World's first robot hotel massacres half of its robot staff The world’s first hotel “staffed by robots” has culled half of its steely eyed employees, because they’re rubbish and annoy the guests. “Our hotel's advanced technologies, introduced with the aim of maximizing efficiency, also add to the fun and comfort of your stay,” the Henn na Hotel boasted on its website. It’s where …
The former manager of Nissan Sunderland possibly could have clued them up about the luggage units.... (Cues up the wibbly wobbly timey-wimey flashback)......
Nissan factory in Newcastle area...
Automated mail truck with flashing light, beeping as it moves (Helen Keller would have been aware of it's approach) & overly sensitive sensors that stop 100 meters away from a insect in its path then wait before resuming moving. Stop at each location to allow mail to be loaded\unloaded.
With the sensors being frequently tripped it, mail delivery was quicker by hand so someone disabled them & mail delivery got to the expected performance.
Executives from Nissan turned up with local dignitaries, MP's & the like & given a factory tour.
Partway through the tour, along comes the mail truck & to prove how safe it is, local manager sticks out his foot to prove how it's H&S compliant & half a ton of metal, motors, mail & batteries proceeded to run straight over it while it suffered no damage at all, which was more than be said for the managers foot.
Icon - "I'll be sacked!"
If the BOFH had been there, the robot would have been repurposed to perform pickups from the local pub so that he and the PFY could enjoy a soothing mid-afternoon pint without that whole mucking about with walking to the pub.
Employees complaining about the new company policy replacing intra-office deliveries with email would find area rugs and sacks of quicklime delivered to their offices as an apology.
Perhaps making technology more durable and reliable may eventually take priority over making it “smart”.
This would depend on who's actually running product development and design. If it's engineering then yes, reliability will come to the fore. If it's marketing than whatever is the latest buzz phrase will push the design. I saw this years ago with a simple voltage regulator development. Marketing decided instead of having several adjustment potentiometers for adjustment, they wanted a "wonderful" control. One dial that could only be turned one way to increase the "wonderful". Many of us in engineering never did sort out if they were serious or just having fun.
' Not to mention that technology today is anything but smart. If it is reliable, it's because there is decades of experience behind it. But as soon as it is connected to the mother ship it becomes dumb as a rock, subservient to the whims of its maker, and should be discarded beaten to a pulp, burned to the ground, shot from a cannon and encased in concrete and dropped into the deepest part of the Marianas Trench. "
FTFY Pascal.
But as soon as it is connected to the mother ship it becomes dumb as a rock, subservient to the whims of its maker
Why does "Dark Star" spring to mind?
(I saw that many, many years ago, well after reading the source story. The film is best appreciated after brain-melting amounts of scrumpy and while puffing on whacky-baccy fags. Allegedly)
The robots weren't rebelling against Humans, just upset they'd been fired ;)
Should we fear them though - SMBC rise of the machines
Relevant commentary by Trevor Noah.
Why do we expect the rising robots would be coming after us and not each other?
Um, where was the "room doll" housed? In the closet? Did it pop up out of a cabinet or descend from the ceiling on wires? Or... was it walking around freely...? Aren't all these possibilities very disturbing?
I suppose it was probably just molded into the wall somehow. With eyes that followed you everywhere...
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It would be nice if TFA told us, anywhere easy to find, what the name of the hotel is and where it is.
Unless I missed something, the first tenuous hint comes in the ninth paragraph where we are tantalised by the fact that the hotel manager's name sounds Japanese. Of course the hotel might still be in Mozambique or Ireland, but it's the way to bet.
And of course the Japanese are known to be world leaders in lunatic automation schemes.
all the brains in the world cannot sort this out yet shakes head theres so much my sony phone can do so smart and windows 10 is so stupid my xp professional is better at it please go back to xp and save ur self now raymond petrie aberdeen scotland ps thanks register staff and maplins are back yess
From the pre-Internet Hitchhikers Guide To The Universe:
The Sirius Cybernetics Corporation is the primary manufacturer and supplier of androids, robots and autonomic assistants for the known universe. They are known for their catchy jingles and catchphrases, supplied by their Marketing Department.
They are not, however, known for the quality of their products.
Their primary claim to fame seems to be constructing just about everything with (unstable) advanced robotics and software. From doors to lifts, to toaster ovens, drinks machines, vacuum cleaners, and "personal massage units" -- Everything has been built with a full GPP or Genuine People Personality. This means that even a set of airlock doors has emotions, hopes, dreams, intelligence, and worse of all, the capacity for boredom. It should come as no surprise then, that the majority of these devices have a neurotic streak a mile wide.
The company motto is "Share and Enjoy." This is widely adaptable, from synthesized drinks to the company of a robot, or 'Your plastic pal who's fun to be with' as it is described by the aforementioned Marketing Department. It should be noted that many who do not Enjoy, then go on to fail to Share, unless this includes sharing strongly-worded opinions toward their complaints department.
The Hitchhiker's Travel Guide describes the Marketing Department of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation as:
"A bunch of mindless jerks who'll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes."
Curiously, an edition of the Encyclopedia Galactica which conveniently fell through a rift in the time-space continuum from 1000 years in the future describes the Marketing Department of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation as:
"A bunch of mindless jerks who were the first against the wall when the revolution came."
Only their complaints department survived the general economic implosion of the company as a whole.
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