Comment by bootlooped | Hacker News Reader

Comment by bootlooped | Hacker News Reader

My initial reaction is that this will not become very popular.

Many, probably most, jobs that include operating a forklift are not 100% just driving and operating the forklift, you have to get on and off it a lot, for example to change the propane tank or battery, hit the start button on a skid wrapper, fill out some paperwork, etc...

Many tasks that forklifts do could be automated to not include a forklift at all with some upfront investment. For example I used to move hoppers with raw material from one area onto the machines when necessary. They could have easily installed silos to store it with vacuum tubes to move the material around. But ultimately you still have to load and unload semi trucks, so if you already have the forklifts, you already have employees trained to drive them why automate it (well it would have made our jobs a lot easier, but I don't think that was a priority for them).

Are forklift jobs that dangerous to the operator that they should be automated? My impression was that the biggest risk involving a forklift was to nearby pedestrians. I do think the constant 360 view that those monitors provide probably helps; you also lose something in not having depth perception.

I'm very skeptical of the claim that more people would take forklift driving jobs if only they were from an office chair instead of actually on the forklift.

I think the best feature is your potential pool of workers is no longer limited to the immediate geographic area. The best case I can think of is a plant where the forklift only needs operated infrequently, so you have a pool of drivers that takes remote control of a set of forklifts only when needed, so their time is better utilized. But then it goes back to what are the other plant employees doing while the truck is being unloaded. I thinmk the b

I'm very skeptical of the claim that more people would take forklift driving jobs if only they were from an office chair instead of actually on the forklift.

I agree, and in fact would go so far as to say that the physicality of the job is what makes it less boring and thus appealing to some.

Exactly, I have a friend who is a forklift driver for Costco. He loves that the work is very self directed, that a portion of the warehouse is essentially his to make as clean and organized as he wishes. The main requirements are that all the incoming goods be stored and all the empty bays restocked.

"I like stacking crates"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D04wb7P_v-4

Have you introduced him to the game Wilmot's Warehouse http://www.wilmotswarehouse.com ? Under the covers, I consider it to be a word/idea game.

What does that mean?

The game is about putting boxes with icons or (abstract) shapes on them together so that they can be found easier later.

Consider the situation that you've been putting "things that are cold" together. Snowflake. Snowman. You've also been putting "Buildings" together. House. Castle. ... And now you've got an igloo. Where do you put that? "Things that are sports like". You've got a football, a baseball bat... and now a hockey stick. Does that go in the cold things? Oh, here's a stadium - does that go in the sports area? or the buildings group? You've been putting round things together - frog eggs, wheels, and this disk with a slash through it. And now you get things that look like pills... was that thing with a slash through it a pill? Should you move it over to the pills section? or leave it with the round things? Or maybe move the pills adjacent to the round things.

So on one hand, the game is about organization of things... on the other, it's a word and idea game about how you group particular things together.

yeah who wouldn't want to drive a forklift even just for fun?

The biggest risk involving a forklift is probably to building, equipment, and material damage. A ROV forklift probably would not improve that.

Kind of puts a whole new spin on the amusing Staplerfahrer Klaus training film. Turn it into a video game where the students are rewarded for maximizing carnage, and they won't forget those lessons easily.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Race_2000

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmageddon

First thing I thought of when I read 'forklift drivers' was Klaus. Here's a version with English subtitles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJYOkZz6Dck

LOL.

Just so anyone else clicking the link knows what they're getting into, the video has a lot of comedy gore.

The people I know who are forklift drivers are doing so because they don't have other skills and getting trained to do forklift was their only way to get a living wage.

I really don't think those people would pass on the job if it moved to an office chair.

I think there's so much more to it. once they're remotely operated is quite easier to install an ai in the control loop.

it will first be training only. it will then start taking off the less risky task, like driving the lift to parking space after being used. Human will be gradually moved into facilitator jobs, taking over the difficult situation, and ultimately supervision only

however I am left wondering why, in the midst of the autonomously driven vehicles hype, people are focusing on the messy, unpredictable road environments instead of working on these kind of in-between situations that are harder than an automated warehouse but simpler than the public world.

This is such a silicon valley response. In what way is it easier to add actuators to a forklift, and get a second set of control hardware that connects through a network (And all the additional problems that brings in) than to just put sensors on the vehicle?

because the net would have to control the actuators anyway, but it's not a given that an actuator can move controls as fast as an human would be able to. putting the human in control of the actuators instead of sensors on controls solves that issue.

I know a company that does teleoperated food delivery using drivers from Columbia, to save on salaries.

At $4/hr, there's no big rush for self-driving.

That could apply to forklifts too.

Guess you mean Colombia.

So this is what the Tesla self driving beta is all about.

Who needs AI and all that when you get somebody from a third world country at low pay and qualified by completing GTA V.

Haha I have been driving for 27 years but can't get past the third level of GTA V)

Where is this? I would expect that teleoperated vehicles on public roads are not legal in most jurisdictions.

> to change the propane tank or battery, hit the start button on a skid wrapper, fill out some paperwork,

These are all much lower skilled jobs that are easier to staff.

There's a pretty low barrier to entry to driving a forklift, at least in the jurisdiction I did it in. Training took place on the job site, by other employees, and it took no more than a few hours.

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