A Robot Walks Into A Grocery Store...

LuvDeezKittez

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So I went to the grocery store yesterday and ran into their newest employee... a robot named "Marty". It's like 7 feet tall with giant googly eyes and wears a nametag.
:noway:
I'm not even kidding. It's job is to patrol the store constantly looking for spills.

Wanna see what I'm talking about??

Lots of people love him- I mean, technology is cool and all. BUT. I AM TERRIFIED. :fear:
I thought about knocking over some spaghetti sauce to distract him when he started coming towards me in the aisle. :running:

Do we really need this America? Can't we spend the money on something else? I'm sure we could all come up with something if we reeeeaaallllly put our heads together, right? :grouphug:

Well, there it is folks. Marty the Spill Alerting Robot (and no he doesn't actually clean the spills he just lets off an alarm to scare the piss out of you *ahem* I mean to alert you to the problem)

So, what do you think? Let me know:
  1. Do you have a robot at YOUR grocery store?
  2. What do you think of grocery robots? Creepy? Helpful? :dunno:
  3. What would you rather see the money go towards?
 
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Wile

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Wow, it is amazing how a pair of googly eyes can make you feel completely different about a giant vacuum cleaner. I wonder how they justify the cost. Surely it can't just be looking for spills right? It must also do some kind of surveillance?
 

Norachan

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  • Do you have a robot at YOUR grocery store?
  • What do you think of grocery robots? Creepy? Helpful? :dunno:
  • What would you rather see the money go towards?
I live in Japan, people over here are obsessed with the horrid things. I keep telling them Robots are evil! But they don't listen to me.

They have robots to greet customers in a lot of stores. They used to be right by the front door, but these days I've noticed they're being tucked away further back. I guess the staff are getting tired of them too.

They even have a robot disguised as a seal to keep dementia patients happy in Old People's Homes.


Does that strike anyone else as odd? Dementia patients are already feeling quite confused.

"Where am I, where's my family and what am I doing hugging a seal?"

:headshake:

I'd rather see the money going towards the salary of real, human members of staff who might need a job. Or adopting real live pets from shelters to keep the old people company.
 

Winchester

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When I was reading the OP, I was thinking that, OK, it's a robot, but how bad can it be? Really. Then I saw the second post, gulped, and thought, "Oh yeah, that's just wrong!". IMO, they're not on the floor just to monitor spills; I would think they're too expensive for that. They have to be doing some kind of surveillance.

As Norachan said, I'd rather see the money going to people for good wages and benefits. Even WalMart uses people as greeters (or at least they used to; it's been ages since I was in a WM).
 

Kat0121

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When I was reading the OP, I was thinking that, OK, it's a robot, but how bad can it be? Really. Then I saw the second post, gulped, and thought, "Oh yeah, that's just wrong!". IMO, they're not on the floor just to monitor spills; I would think they're too expensive for that. They have to be doing some kind of surveillance.

As Norachan said, I'd rather see the money going to people for good wages and benefits. Even WalMart uses people as greeters (or at least they used to; it's been ages since I was in a WM).
WM doesn't use greeters anymore. Not around here at least. I haven't been in one in a long time either but they were already gone last time I was in one. I agree that the money could go to creating jobs with benefits.
 

Willowy

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Huh, Walmarts here still have greeters. Usually elderly or disabled people. Having Mavis LOOK at you cuts down on shoplifting, so I'm told.

I can't see how a spill-finding robot could possibly be cost-effective. Hire a teenager to walk the aisles looking for spills for minimum wage; they can even clean it up! So the robots must have some other purpose too.
 
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LuvDeezKittez

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Here's the article with more information on the robot roll-out from our local newspaper, the Baltimore Sun: Meet Marty

Right now it's just happening in a few select states like Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania but it's a nationwide launch of 500+ robots to Giant Food, Stop&Shop, and Martin's grocery stores! So get ready for yours soon! :help:
legopanic.gif
I think my husband said it best, "So lemme get this straight...the robot's job isn't to fix the problem, it just tells humans what to do." Great, just what I wanted. A box of circuits telling me what my problems are. ::: DEEP SIGH::: :headshake: :frustrated:
 

Kflowers

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Customers at Publix and Winn Dixie and, I'll bet, Kroger are happy to alert staff members to spills, misplaced items, missing items, out of date foods...

I think I've got it. Customers are told the robots will alert to spills in the hope of keeping customers from telling employees about spills and other things. Dream on, customers are on the job and won't be denied.

I think it's horrible. I guess it's supposed to be cute, but I've got to say those things would make me shop elsewhere.
 

weebeasties

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I'm a huge Futurama fan, so I sorta love this. The only thing that would make it better is to see it chugging beer and pushing "meatbags" out of the way while muttering "Kill all humans" to itself.
 
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LuvDeezKittez

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I'm a huge Futurama fan, so I sorta love this. The only thing that would make it better is to see it chugging beer and pushing "meatbags" out of the way while muttering "Kill all humans" to itself.
haha, yep.. not far off though. BTW-- you can have my store's robot. Can't be too hard to kidnap, er, robot-nap.
 

DreamerRose

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It must be there to watch for shoplifting. There aren't enough spills in most grocery stores to justify the cost of the robots. If it cleaned them up, that would be helpful, but still doesn't justify the costs.
 

muffy

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So I went to the grocery store yesterday and ran into their newest employee... a robot named "Marty". It's like 7 feet tall with giant googly eyes and wears a nametag.
:noway:
I'm not even kidding. It's job is to patrol the store constantly looking for spills.



Wanna see what I'm talking about??

Lots of people love him- I mean, technology is cool and all. BUT. I AM TERRIFIED. :fear:
I thought about knocking over some spaghetti sauce to distract him when he started coming towards me in the aisle. :running:

Do we really need this America? Can't we spend the money on something else? I'm sure we could all come up with something if we reeeeaaallllly put our heads together, right? :grouphug:

Well, there it is folks. Marty the Spill Alerting Robot (and no he doesn't actually clean the spills he just lets off an alarm to scare the piss out of you *ahem* I mean to alert you to the problem)

So, what do you think? Let me know:
  1. Do you have a robot at YOUR grocery store?
  2. What do you think of grocery robots? Creepy? Helpful? :dunno:
  3. What would you rather see the money go towards?
No, but I do not shop at Giant too much. I think they are creepy and would rather the money go towards a human with a working.
 
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