Robbing Delivery Robots Is Now a Thing
Delivery robots are now being robbed for food and other items in some cities where they have been introduced. Is robot security catching up?
My (unpopular?) solution is to make sure the rest of society isn't so desperate for food that they're willing to rob a robot.
In an unrelated suggestion, if youre in a grocery store and see someone stealing food, no you didn't.
It really pissed me off how people don’t seem to realise that most crime is due to a failure of society and that if we give people prospects then crime will go down.
As someone who works in a grocery store, most of the people I see stealing are stealing stuff like makeup or drinks and junk food, not necessities. And our regular thieves spend hundreds on cigarettes a week, while still stealing whatever they want because they know they’ll get away with it.
If you think about it’s easier to steal higher value items that have a good resale value, rather than a complete food shop.
Sure, some people steal out of more than necessity, whether that be drug addiction (which should also be fixed at the root) or other issues.
The fact is quite simple that the more we give people prospects then the more crime will go down.
Yeah, the cigarettes thing is a literal drug issue. The only thing that's different between that a fentanyl is the smokes are not criminalized.
We can't expect our thieves and impoverished to be exactly rational and raid the staples, especially as we've engineered junk food to appeal to impulsivity.
As for makeup I don't have an easy explanation, though makeup is expensive and currently we do expect people to wear it rather than get accustomed to what folks look like without it. I was going to guess it's fungible, but less so than brand-name laundry detergent. Tide is currency in the underground market.
But yes, while for young people there might be a thrill in the act of stealing over buying, ultimately, when we have the capacity to fulfill our needs without careful budgeting and compromise, we're glad to do things transactionally. Professional thieves struggle to make rent.
If I still work in retail I would require far more money to notice things. Since my wage wasn't tied to company profits what do I care.
Although I do remember a time that somebody stole all the skittles. We got yelled at about that one.
I don't think that's at all unpopular, don't a lot of beauty pageant women say how they want to end world hunger or poverty
Fix poverty and you fix a huge amount of other things.
Ok sure, but have we considered arming the robots with assault rifles instead?
I'd go with thermonuclear warheads
Surely area of effect weaponry would be better.
The higher collateral impact just serves as an extra lesson to any wannabe thieves.
If we’re all not living in survival mode, why would people work? /s
Making people self sustainable is a good way to fix poverty but the state actively works against that.
What a pathetic bunch of people trying to maintain the slave status quo in these comments. WHY are you fighting to maintain a world where people have to work low tier bull shit jobs to survive? The answer, you morons, is to let the robots be and improve society to the point technology said it would. We re the most productive we've ever been in our entire history yet work more than any other time in history. We need work reform, not a robot genocide.
In an ideal world these robots would shift to there not being a need for "unskilled labor" and we would all have more leisure time. In the late stage capitalistic hellhole we are forced to live in, huge organization replace minimum wage jobs with robots and hoard profits and push people further unto poverty, while still overworking and underpaying the few people they do still employ.
If we had a ubi, then robots and self checkouts taking minimum wage jobs wouldn't be an issue because the person who's job was taken isn't just displaced and faces homelessness or death.
So I sympathize with the people who are complaining about the robots. As much as I want a scifi future with a bunch of automation, I want exploitation of the lower class to end first.
The unemployment rates in the USA and Canada are both far below norms. These robots aren't taking anyone's irreplaceable job. Of all the things they are (ugly, intrusive, annoying), one of the things they're not doing is driving up unemployment. At worst, someone has to change jobs.
let the robots be and improve society to the point technology said it would. We re the most productive we’ve ever been in our entire history yet work more than any other time in history. We need work reform, not a robot genocide.
I am in agreement with you, but the problem is the work reform part is not forthcoming. The delivery robots didn't come with a helping of any kind of labor reform, whatsoever, and will not come with one either without some kind of violence to usher in the deal. The capitalist class would not allow it to happen any other way.
yet work more than any other time in history
1903 would like a word.
Del Spooner would like a word with you.
yet work more than any other time in history.
My impression is that we're the most leisurely, per capita, than we've ever been. The average workweek now is 34 hours, down from 60-70 in the 1850s.
I would disagree about your average because it's brought down by people working multiple jobs that won't generally staff them past those 30ish hours or what ever the magic number is to be just under the required time to be eligible for a benefits package. It's a widely known problem in the work force.
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/what-are-full-time-hours
Low income white neighborhoods have lower crime rates than black middle/high income neighborhoods. There is no more blind person that the one who doesnt want to see.
"The robots are constantly monitored and equipped with 12 cameras and two-way audio communication systems. Any improper conduct will be detected immediately. If an incident does occur with a Starship robot, one of our robot rescuers can respond quickly," robot builder Starship Technologies says regarding robot safety, adding that acts of vandalism or theft are reported to authorities.
While that may be true in theory, instances of actual prosecution for theft from robots in cities where they operate have not been easy to discover. As with far more widespread instances of front porch package thieves or shoplifters, despite the volume of video evidence the robots can produce the police have to actually take some investigative steps to identify and locate the suspects
I'm glad they've thought this through.
How dare they expect cops to "take some investigative steps?" We'll arrest the criminals when you bring them in for us, along with evidence.
some robots have been robbed of the goods they're delivering, including food.
That was easy to predict, wasn't it?
modern crimes in modern times
I'm far from a Luddite and I think robots in general are cool. But I kind of don't have an issue with people fucking up autonomous roaming robots. I haven't rationalized that opinion just yet, I guess. Just feels right.
Philly did nothing wrong
I don't think waving away being a Luddite just by saying so makes it so.
I can't think of a single angle of principled moral theory that makes this okay. Vandalizing or stealing someone else's property they paid for. Hurting both the restaurant and the customer by depriving them of their food. Holding back progress on an invention that can reduce the need for humans to engage in a type of work that is hard, dangerous at times, and low paid.
From a purely rational on paper view, it doesn't look terribly different than saying vandalizing or stealing from delivery vehicles driven by people isn't wrong. What possible justification could there be for this view besides Ludditism fuck robots?
I wonder if people had more prospects would crime go down?
That’s a rhetorical question by the way. Petty crime is a failure of society.
groans
I don’t think waving away being a Luddite just by saying so makes it so.
Guess you know me better than I know myself.
From a purely rational on paper view, it doesn’t look terribly different than saying vandalizing or stealing from delivery vehicles driven by people isn’t wrong. What possible justification could there be for this view besides Ludditism fuck robots?
Imagine thinking humans are rational beings the debate ethics every time they have a feeling. Sometimes you just gotta fuck shit up.
Under captialism we lament robots taking our jobs, where under a better system we would be rejoicing.
Do you mean the system where people would have the opportunity to cook better food for themselves instead of ordering fast food and paying exorbitant fees to have it delivered?
Pepperidge Farm remembers
https://www.cnn.com/2015/08/03/us/hitchbot-robot-beheaded-philadelphia-feat/index.html
You okay with people fucking up vending machines and ATMs too? Why or why not?
The rational could be that those robots are taking the job of a human being and deserve to be robbed...
Using cars to deliver food pays very little, is dangerous (old guy with shotgun shoots your brains if you go to the wrong house), and is extremely bad for the environment. Current delivery workers could switch to a safer job with better pay and not damage the environment as much. Or we can implement UBI. Just a thought.
Edit: I would also like to point out a robot’s electric bill for a trip is much cheaper when compared to a gas or even an electric car. Ideally, the savings would be passed along to the customer.
That is LITERALLY the meaning of the “Luddite” position that has been disclaimed.
1 spray can of black paint vs 1000 robot cameras, who wins?
When wasn’t it going to be a thing?
Well, this is a side of snow crash I didn't expect to see so soon.
Actually just had that book delivered today, pretty excited to read it
At least we've moved on from killing them in the street.
Poor hitch-hiking bot.
RIP
"you wouldn't -d̵o̵w̵n̵l̵o̵a̵d̵- drone-rob a pizza..."
Sitting behind garbage bean with my Anti drone to rob a pizza.
Does Lemmy markup have strikethru?
Looks like it does! Your double ~~ are rendering strikethrough for me (Jerboa)
I had searched it up but didn't find it and just went with a shitty ASCII overlay haha
These things have been around for a few years on the college campus in my hometown, it's not that new and they do work fairly well. Might be that it was a testing ground though
My niece has them on her college campus.
College kids + alcohol + robots.... It's about what you would expect.
They rarely make it to their destinations on time.
How fast are they?
3-5mph... believe they can go much faster but they never do
I'd figured the article would have some tips but I was disappointed.
Choose your spot well, preferably near an alley without any cameras directly viewing it. Wear a no -branded hoodie, sunglasses, and a mask, then obstruct its forward path, and start spray painting the cameras. Wear gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints. If all else fails, a stun gun might be very helpful in disabling stubborn electronics.
Also, purchase your outerwear and other items from different stores with cash. But not in a circle around you. And buy the bat ears in bulk so it doesn't raise suspicion.
Here's an idea, don't launch these services in low trust, high crime places. In California, people can walk into a fully staffed Walgreens and commit blatant theft with no repercussions; a poor robot out in the world stands no chance.
Youve fallen into a rightwing echo chamber:
Maybe we cried too much’: Walgreens hints it exaggerated shoplifting surge
posted that to !shoplifting@slrpnk.net btw
100% expected.
This is why we can’t have nice things.
These were never nice things.
Until the robots become sentient then fight back?
mf have you seen robot wars/battlebots? they just need a flywheel weapon and they're good for self defence.
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don't even need to be sentient. just mount a rail gun on a Spot and then we're off to the Skynet races 🤖
"Skynet was developed to be the command and control system for the military food delivery robots."
My brain assumed from the title that this would actually be about robot porch pirates now prowling the neighbourhood. I'm thankful we're not there... yet.
These robots are a hazard and a nuisance to the pedestrians. I won't shed a single tear for these tincans on wheels. I would not order one of these either.
This is actually how rights for robots will be a thing. So the proletariat knows to stay in line and never harm or try to subvert the robots made by the elite class to extract wealth
the workers work for a company
Exploiting the proletariat
the robots do it instead
Extracting wealth
Arm the robots.
I support it.