A new product/service developed by Amazon will start its service in Irvine, California. This sidewalk-driving delivery robot called Scout will be the first deployment of this system in California.
“Scout has experienced all of the region’s weather—from the expected rain shower, to the infrequent sun, and even the biggest snowstorm the area’s seen in the last decade. It’s now time for Scout to experience a little more sunshine. I’m thrilled to report that, starting today, Scout will begin to deliver packages to customers in Southern California”, wrote Sean Scott, Vice President of Amazon Scout (9to5toys.com).
WHAT IS IT ABOUT ?
Scout started to work in the PNS (Seattle) so Amazon could test how effective the system is under different weather conditions. They are scheduled to start working in Irvine from Monday to Friday and only during daylight hours. Amazon informed that the deployment of the Scouts will be random and for now, customers won’t have the option to pick a Scout as the delivery option.
Scouts can drive themselves but they are accompanied by Amazon personnel in order to keep this first stage safe and also gather information of its effectiveness. The final goal of Amazon is to understand better how they can improve the interaction of the AI Robots so they can be more helpful for the customers.
ARE THIS ROBOTS A PROBLEM?
Well inside the academic and professional fields that study how robots and AI affect human interaction and evolution, some concern grows regarding how this might affect employment. Corporations like Amazon will save a lot of money by introducing more technology to this market, so more unemployment? Not exactly. The focus will be Customer support as this area will take the lead role, while logistics are starting to control the “delivery” itself. At the same time, people will have to slowly get used to interacting with robots as the first stage for customer support too. Will this work? What do you think?
