Northern Light
Superstar
Meanwhile, can we expect to see "R2-D2" cleaning the subway and light rail platforms? Will there be a "C-3PO" to empty the trash bag when it gets full? What "defences" will the droids have against vandals?
I don't what why you have the silly opening sentence.
The answer is that yes, commercial cleaning machines will increasingly do routine janitorial work, as they should. The object is not turn people of out of jobs they need but to repurpose people to do more interesting, unique and challenging things rather than the most dull, repetitive tasks.
I've been looking forward to seeing more of these roll out and I expect more in large retailers soon.
One reason I've been in favour of boosting the minimum wage, beyond insuring people make a decent living, it to incentivize business to invest in productivity; and there she is.
Now does it need some software tweaks still; yeah, probably, but its close. Good!
There will still be many cleaning oriented tasks for which machines are not easily suited for the next several years at least, if not a couple of decades.
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That said, this has very little to do w/the TTC yet.
One of the limitations for the TTC will be that these machines are still pretty rudimentary in being able to navigate elevators and change floors.