Search This Blog

Sunday, January 07, 2018

Fall of the robots

The Gorse Fox went to Sainsbury's and, only having a single item, headed for the self-service checkouts. He followed the instructions - he'd be through in no time. It went something like this:

Start transaction;
No bags;
Scan item;
Finished; Total £4.50
Choose payment type - Cash
Insert notes - £10 inserted
Change given; £5 note delivered and..... Nothing!
Screen says it owes the Gorse Fox 3p...

Robot cannot do maths, and cannot deliver change. Human arrives, scratches head, calls another human. Second human rolls eyes. Somewhere behind the Gorse Fox another robot was failing, another human was being called. The Gorse Fox's human opened up the robot and slid out the intestines. He started rotating wheels... bit by bit the Gorse Fox's change emerged. Not a single 50p coin but 2 x 20p, 1 x 5p, and 2 x 2p... the wheel kept turning but nothing else happened. The robot had stiffed the Gorse Fox of 1p. There was no "deus ex machina". The Gorse Fox chuckled and told the human to keep the change.

Well they tell us that the robots will replace people, but at the moment they seem to require multiple humans to hold their hands.

No comments: