The automation of the global workplace is spreading and, as Pew recently found, 65% of Americans now believe their job will inevitably be done by robots.
In a low-growth world, every low-skill job is up for grabs by the robot/drone horde as the need to cut costs is core business for every CFO (aside from share buybacks) as minimum wage mandates have forced these cost-cutting CFOs to look for alternatives.
Three months ago we warned that it was not just fast-food order-takers and burger-makers that were at risk (a truly terrifying thought for those left in the US economy who are not bartenders or waitresses).
And while McDonalds has already made the move into automation...
The latest 'fast food' outlet to snub humans (and their annoying demands and unreliability) is Domino's Pizza which just unveiled it robot-pizza-delivery plans...
Pizza delivered by a robot? It may seem out of this world, but for one pizza company, the idea may be closer to reality than ever.
Meet ‘DRU,’ Domino’s first-ever automated pizza delivery bot that brings your pizza order directly to your door.
Domino’s unveiled DRU (short for Domino’s Robotic Unit) in several countries across the globe earlier this week, including Australia, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, German, Japan and New Zealand.
The project is a collaborative effort from Domino’s and Australia-based robotic company Marathon Targets, which created the first autonomous robotics for the Australian defense force in the late 2000s.
As Forbes reports, DRU is reportedly fully autonomous, and sports a water-tight, weather-proof acrylic plastic exterior and aluminum and mild steel interior for keeping orders at their best. Like today’s self-driving cars, it uses LIDAR laser-light sensory technology to detect and navigate around obstacles along its journey, and also has a back-up system of traditional sensors (such as you’d find on home cleaning-bots) to ensure it reaches its destination safely.
So far, DRU has been tested on approved pathways and roads Down Under–the same territory, incidentally, in which McDonald’s first began testing its own delivery model–and its size, speed, and autonomous navigation mean it won’t be hitting regular streets or highways soon. If the makers of DRU and its autonomous delivery-brethren keep tweaking their tech while pushing to meet food and road safety guidelines, however, the little bot’s Google Maps- and GPS-powered guidance system might soon be delivering it to neighborhoods worldwide before too long.