Robotic Nation

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 18:19:38 +0300
> From: Peter Nixon <peter () peternixon net>
> Subject: Robotic Nation
>
>
> I thought IP might find this interesting...
>
> http://marshallbrain.com/robotic-nation.htm
>
> I went to McDonald's this weekend with the kids. We go to McDonald's to eat
> about once a week because it is a mile from the house and has an indoor play
> area. Our normal routine is to walk in to McDonald's, stand in line, order,
> stand around waiting for the order, sit down, eat and play.
>
> On Sunday, this decades-old routine changed forever. When we walked in to
> McDonald's, an attractive woman in a suit greeted us and said, "Are you
> planning to visit the play area tonight?" The kids screamed, "Yeah!"
> "McDonald's has a new system that you can use to order your food right in the
> play area. Would you like to try it?" The kids screamed, "Yeah!"
>
>
> The woman walks us over to a pair of kiosks in the play area. She starts to
> show me how the kiosks work and the kids scream, "We want to do it!" So I
> pull up a chair and the kids stand on it while the (extremely patient) woman
> in a suit walks the kids through the screens. David ordered his food, Irena
> ordered her food, I ordered my food. It's a simple system. Then it was time
> to pay. Interestingly, the kiosk only took cash in the form of bills. So I
> fed my bills into the machine. Then you take a little plastic number to set
> on your table and type the number in. The transaction is complete.
>
>
> We sat down at a table. We put our number in the center of the table and
> waited. In about 10 seconds the kids screamed, "When is our food going to get
> here???" I said, "Let's count." In less than two minutes a woman in an apron
> put a tray with our food on the table, handed us our change, took the plastic
> number and left.
>
>
> You know what? It is a nice system. It works. It is much nicer than standing
> in line. The only improvement I would request is the ability to use a credit
> card.
>
>
> I will make this prediction: by 2008, every meal in every fast food 
> restaurant
> will be ordered from a kiosk like this, or from a similar system embedded in
> each table.
>
>
> As nice as this system is, however, I think that it represents the tip of an
> iceberg that we do not understand. This iceberg is going to change the
> American economy in ways that are very hard to imagine.
>
> Continued at: http://marshallbrain.com/robotic-nation.htm

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