Business Blind shopper with guide dog claims penis-shaped Woolworths robot stalked her around shouting "OBSTRUCTION OBSTRUCTION" - Thankfully it didn't have the EXTERMINATE mode on.

Blind Woolworths shopper claims the supermarket's 'penis-shaped' robot followed her around the store shouting 'obstruction' - embarrassing her and scaring her guide dog Bridget

www.dailymail.co.uk

Blind shopper followed by penis shaped robot shouting obstruction

Casey Hyde said she was unable to finish her shopping at the Melbourne store because she was so uncomfortable and her support animal was confused.
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A blind woman has claimed a Woolworths robot 'stalked' her through a supermarket, calling her an 'obstruction' and scaring her guide dog, Bridget.

Casey Hyde said she was unable to finish her shopping at the Melbourne store because she was so uncomfortable and her support animal was confused.

Ms Hyde has 10 per cent sight and relies heavily on Bridget to complete everyday tasks.

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As she walked the aisles, Ms Hyde said the 'penis-shaped' robot - which alerts shoppers to hazards - repeatedly shouted the word 'obstruction' at her dog - which she believes may have been mistaken for a black garbage bin.

'It's designed to find things blocking the aisle and the robot thought Bridget was an obstruction. It scared the dog and also distracted her,' Ms Hyde told Yahoo.
'It was confronting for me – the robot wasn't helping me feel comfortable... I just want people to be able to enjoy their shopping instead of worrying about being stalked by a penis-shaped robot.'

Ms Hyde criticised the supermarket chain, claiming it was failing people with disabilities.

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'This robot followed me while I worked and yelled out that I'm a obstruction,' she wrote.
'I should have more status. Access and disability is always thought last due to low employment rates for people who live with a disability.
'Change the statistics to consider everyone. The robot can work after hours as it doesn't get paid.
'Please consider disability access in your stores,' she wrote.

A Woolworths spokesman told Daily Mail Australia: 'We want all our customers to feel welcome in our stores and regret this wasn't the case on this occasion.

'We've made contact with the customer to find out more about the incident and will look into the details with the robot manufacturer as a priority.
'The safety robot is part of a trial designed to improve customer safety and experience in the store, and we're closely monitoring customer feedback on it.
'These robots operate in hundreds of stores across the world and have been subject to extensive safety testing by the manufacturer. They have sensors built in and are programmed to stop or move away from any fixed or moving objects.'
 
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Blind lady walks in to a store, she's got a seeing eye dog. She makes it to about the middle of the shop when she grabs the dog's harness and starts whipping it in a circle over her head. The manager says to her, lady, can I help you with anything? She says, no thanks, I'm just having a look around.
 
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Honka Honka Burning Love said:
The real question here is..why do they have a robot that screams Obstruction at random? Or is that supposed to be an automated Floor Scrubber?
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Perhaps the dog triggered it?
Sticking object recognition into a bot of this sort seems like an overkill, so I'd wager they used some simpler algorithm based on let's say height of the detected object.
Exploring this thought further - programmed to notify staff of any obstruction it detects, and to keep somehow determined distance from the object; yeah I can totally see the poor 'bot struggling with an unexpected edge case.
 
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Damn Near said:
every one of these stupid robots i've seen in a grocery store have had plastic googly eyes put on them
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I've read that this is supposed to make them look more friendly and to deter vandals from breaking them. But it's stupid looking. If anything it makes them look even more bashable.

Mister Qwerty said:
Did this 'penis-shaped' robot shout “OBSTRUCTION” in a Dalek voice?
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The ones I've seen have a female voice. I was disappoint. :(

Although it's not as bad as the new robot voice on the bus. It's like a text reader from Windows 95. It mangles the simplest of words. It was so dark I had no idea where I was because every stop name was mangled. The driver should just go back to yelling out the stops.

If you are gonna have robot voices they should be easy to understand. Also cool. Get some brand deals going. I want Morgan Freeman telling me where I am.

Anyway, it's harder to sympathise with this lady when she complains about the robot being penis shaped then goes on about all the status she deserves because she is blind. Who is she trying to rally to her cause? Disabled penis haters with service animals? Lady, just get to the main point. The robot is a hazard because it gets in the way and confuses your guide dog. :roll:
 
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They have these at Stop & Shop as other people hinted at, it's called Marty.



And yeah literally all it does is detect spills/hazards and shouts in a female voice (despite having a male name) that it found a spill, nothing else. It's definitely just so they can say they have a robot.

But I actually think they're fucking adorable and I love watching them scoot around. They're... endearing. It definitely adds some charm and recognition to the locations.
 
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The Fool said:
They have these at Stop & Shop as other people hinted at, it's called Marty.



And yeah literally all it does is detect spills/hazards and shouts in a female voice (despite having a male name) that it found a spill, nothing else. It's definitely just so they can say they have a robot.

But I actually think they're fucking adorable and I love watching them scoot around. They're... endearing. It definitely adds some charm and recognition to the locations.
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Why don't they just buy a roomba, I mean the soulless husks in corporate wouldn't give two fucks axing some janitor to avoid being sued by some sue-happy junkie.

Also this thing reminds me of Coppy, that one tumblr April Fool's joke.
 
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queue-anon said:
Last summer, I was walking near a bike trail, and I kept hearing a robotic voice threatening to call the police. At first I thought it was some weirdo/asshole bike rider playing a recording to get me to move out of the way. Finally, the bike passed by, and it was one of those bike rideshares you have to pay for. Some homeless dude was riding without paying. The thing threatening to "call" the police and not doing so (as if the cops don't have better shit to deal with) seems about as useful as this stupid robot.
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From last year
www.sciencealert.com

Police Robot on Patrol Completely Ignores Woman Trying to Summon The Police

Those Knightscope security robots may not be so great at their jobs.
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main article image

(AP via YouTube)
TECH
Police Robot on Patrol Completely Ignores Woman Trying to Summon The Police

DAN ROBITZSKI, FUTURISM
10 OCT 2019
Those Knightscope security robots may not be so great at their jobs.
When a woman in a park near Los Angeles saw people fighting and tried to summon help via a police robot patrolling nearby, the robot merely told her to "step out of the way" and continued along its pre-determined route, according to NBC News.

No help came until the spectators called 911 directly, raising the question of what, if any, function these robots are actually supposed to serve.
It turns out that the robot, a K5 model named "HP RoboCop", patrols the park on behalf of the police department - but doesn't have any way of summoning human officers to the scene, Huntingdon Park police chief Cosme Lozano told NBC.
Instead, he said, calls go to Knightscope - and will continue to do so until the police department develops protocols for handling calls made through the police bot. It's surprising news, given that the robot has been patrolling the park since June.
The fact that people assume the robot, which has the word "police" emblazoned on it in large letters, can connect them to the police department reveals just how nebulous these robots are. Especially when they pop up without any sort of public education to go alongside them.
"Are we going to get in trouble if we touch it?" park visitor Violete Alvaraz posed to NBC. "Who's guiding it? I don't know how it works. Should I still call 911?"
This article was originally published by Futurism. Read the original article.
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Complete with even more creepy penis shaped robot! It the LAPD. So any day now "Hello Citizen ZRRRK! >EXECUTE RODNEY KING PROTOCALS EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE!"
 
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keyboredsm4shthe2nd said:
Why don't they just buy a roomba, I mean the soulless husks in corporate wouldn't give two fucks axing some janitor to avoid being sued by some sue-happy junkie.

Also this thing reminds me of Coppy, that one tumblr April Fool's joke.
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Automation replacing jobs in minimum-wage jobs is a huge issue and very bad PR. When chains like these add any form of automation, it's to streamline the job of the human staff/make more jobs. Self-checkouts already exist, and there isn't much else you can automate in a groceries store with modern technology. So, put a stick on wheels and have it scream when it sees a change in the floor. It's purely PR just to seem modern and progressive.
 
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Borax Bozo said:
This Woolworth's is one of the two major competing supermarket chains in Australia.
"Woolworth's" as a brand has had different fates all around the world.
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No kidding, I just learned that the original Woolworth’s became foot locker
 
Dysnomia said:
I've read that this is supposed to make them look more friendly and to deter vandals from breaking them. But it's stupid looking. If anything it makes them look even more bashable.
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They should've learned their lesson on what happened with poor Hitchbot.
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