So, from what little research I did the robots cost from 5000$ to 500000$, as most articles point out the advanced robots cost 200000-300000$. In a lot of places around the world that's like paying a human for 8-10 years. Humans are easily "replaceable", where those robots have maintenance cost additional to the initial "investment". How is that feasible in the eyes of the big money oligarchs? I genuinely don't understand the end goal here.

I don't think they really plan to replace workers with robots. It fulfills two other purposes:

• Keep the work force humble by threatening them with permanent replaceability.
• Keep the stock holders happy. This shit simulates "innovation" like the delivery drones 10 years ago.

"...creation of motion graphics designer Tom Coben..." https://mashable.com/video/bowling-robot-video-computer-generated

When the mask comes off, humans will revolt. Robots won't.

Or, that's the delusion.

if its actually feasible and it reduces cost, then it will be the plan. right now though, its bullshit. As soon as people start stealing and destroying these 5000-500000 dollar robots all of the potential profit goes out the window.

Yep!

Drivers have to visit an absolutely absurd number of locations in a small block of time, so if they attempt to park like a sane member of society, they'll be fired very quickly.

You don't really need to be humanoid to manipulate ddmoors and gates

I may lack imagination but I can't see a future where the materials and skills needed to build such robots get cheap enough to replace humans.
Especially if they get trashed and stolen every once in a while.

No you won't.

The labor aspect of class politics is complicated.

But you don't have to understand any of it to think stealing these would be cool as fuck.

Yo why tf can't they just fucking pay people a reasonable wage AND give them sane working conditions? This is insane. Capitalism does not favor anyone except the rich. It's time to tear down this wall of mediocrity and face the facts. No sense of government intervention will fix this. It must all be rewritten entirely.

Because it's not real. It's purely for marketing, not for actual wide-spread implementation.

Even in the best of cases, even factoring in economy of scale and all that, a robot like that will cost upwards of €50k at least, probably closer to double that, will require constant maintainance, and the risk of vandalism or accidental damage is really high. And you'll likely need a (skilled) human operator nearby anyway, because the delivery vehicle doesn't drive itself.

The purpose of projects like this is marketing and public perception.

• The company looks futuristic and future proof. That's good to get investors.
• The company looks like they could replace humans with robots at any time. That's good with negotiations with unions and workers.
• The company gets into headlines worldwide. That's advertisement they don't have to pay for.

This robot is not meant to ever go mainstream. Maybe there will be a handful of routes where they will be implemented for marketing purposes, but like drone delivery and similar gimmicks, it won't beat a criminally underpaid delivery human on price, and that's the only metric that counts for a company like Amazon.

are you promoting vandalism?

If I get one of those, I'm definitely killing it and stealing its copper. Amazon can pay for the repairs.

Even if you make them in large quantities, material cost alone will be at least €50k. You will need a skilled operator nearby, and constant maintainance, and if you lose even one per year, a regular underpaid human worker will be much cheaper.

These things are pure marketing devices to pacify investors, generate headlines and make unions and workers afraid.

No they fucking aren't. That shit would be so much more expensive than a person. Liars, and not even particularly good ones.

The cost of an employee is far higher than just their pay though.

When you order something, do you express where you want it sent in coordinates or as an address? You can't assume that the device's coordinates at the time the order is made correspond to where the order is supposed to be sent, even if the device gives coordinates. Plus, they're either not precise enough (could encompass the yard of the house next door, or just the snowbank at the edge of the property) or too precise ("drop this in the center of the roof because that's where the coordinates are"). You'd need software capable of parsing building layouts well enough to figure out where the main entryway is and leave the parcel there, or you'd have to require that people interested in receiving deliveries by drone put a beacon where they want the drone to drop stuff.

Beacons are the simplest solution, but they immediately put Amazon in a position where most people won't care enough to set them up.

Just like when they were going to replace all their delivery drivers with drones. It's just bullshit.