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e

Tech

Walmarts are Now Being Cleaned by Autonomous Robots

They don't take sick days, don't require health insurance and tend not to ask for raises

By Rain Noe - December 7, 2018

Now out of the city, I do miss writing those Urban Design Observation posts. Down here in farmland I thought about writing a rural variant, but haven't been able to get it to work yet. That's because I'm rarely off-farm, and when I am, only see things like this aisle-capping Spill Response Station at the nearest Walmart:

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I know, it's hardly interesting enough for a blog post: It's just some cleaning product and pole-based cleaning tools for when someone drops an open bottle of Mountain Dew. Perhaps what is interesting, is that those spill response stations' days are numbered. Walmart is rolling out autonomous robot floor cleaners.

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What I found most interesting, is that the rep states that the machine frees up employees to do other things. Like…apply for unemployment?

Make no mistake: Your job is less likely to be stolen by someone with a foreign name, and more likely to be stolen by something called C-127A-15X.

Go back to your factory!

Rain Noe

Rain Noe is a writer and industrial designer based in New York City.

6 Comments

Skot Lowery

4 months ago

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This doesn't surprise me. I work part-time at a grocery chain and operate a similar floor-cleaning machines after business hours. It is a mind-numbingly boring task and I''ve often thought how easily the machine could be programmed/ configured to do it autonomously. That being said, it does come at a cost saving to the business, but a loss of revenue and hours to employees.

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Matt Levine

4 months ago

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meh, fuck Walmart. but bring on the robots that do the bullshit so long as we put a book in the hand of the person who would otherwise be mopping or get him/her certified as a floor mopping robot technician. And when the robots become self-repairing and manufacturing, then we can concentrate on education, health, and leisure.

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Michael DiTullo

4 months ago

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I actually test drove one of these. They are converted by a company called Brain: https://www.braincorp.com

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- Joel Ness
  
  Michael DiTullo
  
  4 months ago
  
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  I'm afraid to click the link; braincorp sounds pretty ominous.
  
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Juan Cano

4 months ago

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Wait, those will be in the aisles while people shop? So besides avoiding shopping carts and all the people in the motorized wheelchairs, now you have to watch out for a 500lb cleaning machine? Maybe they only deploy them when traffic is low.

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- Brad Johnson
  
  Juan Cano
  
  4 months ago
  
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  Lol, right?!
  
  How long until the first lawsuit? I'm sure it's done overnight though.
  
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