They're automating my facility at work. It occurred to me today, while I was getting paid to loaf around because the automated system ate shit yet again: I don't recall seeing much investigation of bad automation will affect society. Some of it will be poorly done. That's just life. Even when our system is ostensibly working, I'm suddenly getting paid to walk 5-6 miles a day trying to find places that the system has been able to deliver work at a worthwhile rate. Union walking pace. On a 5 hour shift. Labor controlling, that ain't. I'd wager that looking back on this period, we'll see that automation initiatives won't be anywhere near parity between companies within a single industry. And that further consolidation of employers will result.
https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/27/us/denver-airport-saw-the-future-it-didnt-work.html Sharp corners, for example, were too much for the system to deal with. The whirring baggage carts, programmed to pick up and drop off bags in a perfectly coordinated ballet, often just tipped over and dumped their loads. Then there was the lizard tongue, formally known as a telescoping belt loader, which was designed to shoot out from the track system's maw directly to an airplane's luggage doors. It, too, was a flop. BAE Automated Systems of Carrollton, Tex., which designed the system, has since been liquidated, and no one associated with the effort could be reached for comment. I cannot, to the best of my abilities, find video of the "lizard tongue." Apparently we've figured out "telescoping belt conveyors" in the past 20 years though."The main culprit was hubris," he said.
I work with few guys who worked at BAE systems who still defend that system a bit. They weren't even part of the design, just hired on when they were in the 'work out the bugs and optimize the system' phase of the debacle. ------------------------ in heavy russian accent I think they are currently re-automating it, but with the most conventional sort of baggage handling equipment.It was a wonderful system. Much more advanced than the systems built today. Very fast. They shut it down and did everything manual because the cost to keep it running was too high. It's still there if you are ever underneath the terminal. Look up and there are the carts - probably still full of lost baggage.