Amazon Just Walk Out technology (contact less supermarket) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: station240
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 06, 2016, 12:52:26 am
content: No checkouts at all, scan payment info in entry via app, then it tracks shoppers and the items they pick up.Not very much detail on how this works, just talks about sensors and cameras.I have to wonder about what it costs to maintain all this, surely the engineer required isn't going to be that cheap.Is it even possible to retrofit this into an existing store, or does it need specific lighting and line of sight for the cameras ?

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2016, 01:53:47 am
content: Quote from: station240 on December 06, 2016, 12:52:26 amNice idea, but may have adverse implications. A lot of jobs are derived from supermarkets. It's low paying, and borderline slavery, but it's still jobs.

author: Carl_Smith
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2016, 02:20:26 am
content: It's an interesting idea. Grocery stores have been talking for years about setting up a system where you can just push your cart of stuff out a gate and have it all be scanned and checked out instantly. Typically this was going to be done with RFID tags in all the products, but nobody wants to pay for the RFID tags. It's hard to beat the "free" price of UPC codes printed on product packaging.But it would appear that there are no RFID tags being used here. They could use the Bluetooth in your phone to track approximately where you were in the store but that's not going to be accurate enough to identify which product specifically that you have taken off the shelf. And not everyone just leaves the Bluetooth or WiFi on their phone turned on all the time.I'm thinking it's just a crap ton of cameras and a lot of neural network (or "deep learning" as they like to call it now) programming to recognize faces and when products are removed from the shelves.Hopefully it works better than the stupid self checkouts at Walmart that I refuse to use because I have never got through one without some sort of issue with something not working right.As for the lost jobs in stores, I don't worry about that. All the technology that we have implemented over the decades that has killed jobs has just created different ones.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2016, 02:28:45 am
content: They will have to double down on "loss prevention" department staff. I see a lot of homeless people finding this a good way to get food

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2016, 02:40:36 am
content: Simple, just arrest people for being without NFC smartphones in public.

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2016, 02:44:05 am
content: Quote from: helius on December 06, 2016, 02:40:36 amGENIUS. I think social security or IRS in NY wanted to make something you needed to do smartphone only until somebody was smart enough to slap them in the face.

author: Muttley Snickers
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 06, 2016, 03:16:30 am
content: Not sure how these systems will affect those people who seem to regularly pick up an item, plonk it in their basket and then once on the other side of the store pull it back out and place it elsewhere where it doesn’t belong simply because they are idiots and have nothing better to do, it could put a stop to them I suppose.Anyway, I’ve constantly thought about taking along a sticky notepad and when I want to share something with other customers I could simply write a statement on the notepad label and place it in front of the item to give others a heads up, the day is coming I promise you this.Samples.These Coles home brand pies contain big lumpy bits of fat, These Coles fruitcakes are full of tree branches and I chipped a tooth, This toxic Coles home brand soy sauce can also double as a drain cleaner, This Woolworths bread is crap so go over to Coles for theirs, Aldi sells the same stuff as this but at half the price, etc.

author: djos
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 06, 2016, 03:33:05 am
content: Fascinating stuff.Back in the very late 90's I participated in a Woolies experiment (while living in Old Toongabbie, NSW). They had an entire store (Winston Hills iirc) setup with high speed self checkout as the goal. When you walked in you grabbed a portable scanner (the trolleys had a mount for them) and as you grabbed stuff you scanned it. They even had automatic scales in the fruit & veg dept that printed bar-codes you'd stick on your bag of fresh produce.It was great as you knew how much you were spending thru the entire shopping process. Once you were done shopping, you rocked up to the checkout, gave your scanner to the checkout chick and handed over money for your shop.The downsides were Woolies being woolies, they didnt trust their customers and would randomly scan items in your trolly to make sure you weren't ripping them off. You had to bag your own stuff along the way (I didnt mind this myself) and the random check was a pest if you had a really full trolly.Hmmm, I cant recall much more than that tbh - they never rolled out the system nationwide which I personally thought was a shame - must have had too many techno-phobes who refused to use it (this was well pre-iPhone of course).It'll be interesting to see how this works in RL.

author: chickenHeadKnob
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2016, 06:20:03 am
content: The accelerating rate strong AI eliminates jobs brings us ever closer to the Frank Herbert "Butlerian Jihad" societal inflection point. Its coming.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butlerian_Jihad

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2016, 06:23:43 am
content: So far there is a lot of talk about AI and no actual results. You can eliminate jobs if system works 100% of the time. Self-driving car still needs a driver, even of a car does 99% of the driving.This store will need attendants, because there is no way this AI is perfect.I'm pretty sure this is just a tech demo, and noting will come out of it.

author: JPortici
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2016, 06:54:50 am
content: i would be somewhat worried about the jobs. crap jobs but working in stores had taught me a lot about myself, life, working in generaland how to deal with idiot and/or assholes

author: edy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2016, 07:54:24 pm
content: Like a vending machine except you are inside of a gigantic vending machine really. It sounds like a neat idea but I don't think it will take off, at least not to replace conventional stores. It may be a niche in some downtown office worker urban city places. Perhaps it will be another option besides regular cashiers and self-scan checkouts. You could pass the items through a special tunnel that scans it for you and then you swipe phone and off you go.I think the real future is not even going to a store in the first place. You should be able to have it sent to you and the store just has a tab on you and charges you on delivery. You would be ordering it from your smart fridge which keeps inventory and tracks when you are getting low on stuff or if it is going to expire.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2016, 09:25:32 pm
content: Quote from: ataradov on December 06, 2016, 06:23:43 amNo , why, there is a sizeable result at those companies who implemented voice driven phone services. Takes me 3 times longer to pay FeDex bills now.