Wednesday, November 12, 2014
John Oliver’s Take on Robots, Lowe’s, and Home Depot
Tools of the Trade: According to HBO’s John Oliver (Last Week Tonight), robots such as Lowe’s experimental OSHBot could be a bad thing for American marriages. Why? Because couples sometimes argue while shopping at home improvement stores and a robot would not know how to intervene. But Parks and Recreation’s Nick Offerman does, as he so ably illustrates in the video below, where he plays the role of a Home Depot associate.
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6 comments:
Jokes aside, I would have to agree that robotic sales assistants are not the best idea. While I would love some kind of terminal that can tell me what isle something is in if I know exactly what I'm looking for, a robot isn't going to help me. This is especially true for the every day consumer or DIYer who is looking for a specific part but doesn't know exactly what it is or what it's for. There is something about a knowledgeable, which is sometimes the problem, sales associate who can figure out exactly what the customer is looking for with only the vaguest description that a robot just won't be able to match. Also even though this skit takes things to the extreme, it has a fair amount of truth to it. A sales associate does have the ability to diffuse situations like the ones that are shown, although obviously to a lesser extent. I have seen/heard plenty of arguments in home improvement stores that could be solved by a knowledgeable person stepping in and solving the problem that is the cause of the argument. That being said the skit is fantastically funny.
I saw this when it aired. Sunday nights are usually the only moment I take for myself to be an American and watch a little tv, and like any good American I usually choose to watch a British comedian make fun of and point out the idiosyncrasies of our politics and culture. While hilarious, I have to say my experience with sales associates at Home Depot, when I have been able to find one, does not bear much resemblance to the scenario played out in the skit. The depiction of the couple's nightmare that regularly airs in HD aisles, however, is spot on. I disagree Mr. Oliver that OSHbot might exacerbate this nightmare. Probably one of the most attractive characteristics of a robot is their inability to judge. No matter how I try, I know I can't truly hurt Siri's feelings, and no matter how depraved my language with her becomes, she will not think any less of me. We don't have OSH here, but next time I'm in CA, I'm definitely going to go and see what kind of ridiculousness I can get OSHbot into.
I would like to thank whoever put a piece of comedy into this weeks comments. Coincidentally i just finished reading I, Robot by Asimov. One of the points behind the book was that machines could possibly know better what is good for humans than we do. I do hope no one at Lowes actually thought that it would be a good idea, because the absolute most annoying thing is when I ask where the *very specific item here* is and they say, well why don't you look at our sale on . . . The only situation in which these robots would be ok, is if they have a large button on them that makes them go away. Otherwise, robots are great.
I’m not sure which side of the line I fall on here, I can see the argument for both. But I doubt how truly useful this robot may be. I think that in a situation where you had a single piece of hardware, and the robot was able to scan or capture an image of it, search a database, and return a match complete with price and location within the store, then yes it may be useful. But does it really have to be a robot that performs this action, or as a kiosk sufficient? However, on most occasions, I enter one of these stores searching for an item that may not even exist, so how will a robot be able to help me? Furthermore, on most occasions I’m looking for an item that serves a very particular purpose, and typically one that it isn’t meant for, so how will a robot be able to help me? Most times one of the service employees can’t even help me…
Yeah, but maybe this robot will actually be more useful than the average Home Depot or Lowes employee. And by that I mean, useful at all. When it comes to finding a particular item I need the fastest, I've had about a 60/40 split between just browsing by myself or actually asking an employee. Like Joe said, I could see some utility in this robot for it's "scan database" feature. If I walk in with some widget that I need more of, I can see how a robot might be able to figure out what it is faster than a sales associate. That being said, I feel that the majority of times I go to a home improvement store, that is not quite what I am there for. But hey, robots are still cool!
There is something incredibly amusing about the thought of a robot sales assistant. In my experience with automated customer service, it only ends in frustration. On the phone, for example, a person could direct me to the right department in seconds, while the automated system takes five minutes to read off all of the options. I think Lowe's would find that they have the same problem with the robotic assistant: the frustration caused by dealing with the robot would only heighten the frustration one feels with their shopping partner, leading to an unhappy shopping experience.
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