A man was seen yelling at a delivery robot after it asked him to press the crosswalk button for it to cross the road. He argued, saying, “You took a human’s job!” Amid the rise of AI and robotics, this kind of response may become more and more normal.
Many jobs are under threat over the next decade as automation replaces human workers with computers and programs. With the change already taking place across several sectors, people have been left with the feeling that robots could threaten their livelihoods.
The frustration was exhibited in a video shared by Washington Mirror, in which a delivery robot asked a man for help with the message, “Push crosswalk button for me?”
It clearly wanted to cross the street to complete its delivery. However, the man asked the robot:
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“You want me to press the button for you?
“You want me to press the button for you, Mingo? F**k you! Press it yourself!
“You took a human’s job, and you want me to press the button for you?”
Hearing him swear, the robot displayed the message “Excuse me.” He then added:
“Yeah, excuse you. I’m not pressing nothing. You press it.
“You sit there, you took a human’s job, you take over our infrastructure, and then you want me to help you out? Go F**k yourself! Go F**k yourself!
“Press it yourself! Oh, that’s right, you don’t have fingers.”
Two delivery robots made news in the last few days after they crashed into bus shelters in Chicago.
According to UPI, the first incident occurred last Sunday when a Serve Robotics delivery robot crashed into a Chicago Transit Authority Grand and Racine bus shelter, breaking the glass. Fortunately, no one was harmed by the crash.
A Serve Robotics spokesperson commented on the incident. He told WLS-TV:
“We’re aware of the incident involving one of our robots in Chicago. No injuries were reported, our team responded quickly to clean up, and we’re reviewing what happened to make improvements. We have also been in contact with local stakeholders and are committed to addressing any concerns directly. We take this matter very seriously.”
The second incident occurred on Tuesday when a Coco Robotics delivery robot smashed through the bus shelter glass near North Avenue and Halsted Street. Fortunately, nobody was seated in the bus shelter at the time.
Carl Hansen, Coco’s vice president and head of government relations, told CBS Chicago about the incident:
“We’re aware of an incident today in Chicago involving our robot. This is something we take seriously and is well outside the norm of our operations.”
