Shift Robotics aimed to get folks walking faster back in 2022, with a Kickstarter project for strap-on powered wheels called Moonwalkers. Now the Carnegie Mellon spinoff is launching a business-specific variant called the Moonwalkers X.
  • litchralee@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    15·
    11 months ago

    Considering my previous comments about these (and the earlier thread as a whole), I’m fairly impressed they’ve found a use case which has the smooth, level floors needed for this to work well.

    That said, given how poorly warehouse workers are treated, this application seems like it will only exacerbate demands upon workers, driving them harder and for longer hours. I’m left wondering why it’s the case that warehouses cannot just rearrange their operations so that workers don’t have to walk as far, thereby forestalling the need for walking enhancement altogether.

    • Rhaedas@kbin.social
      11·
      11 months ago

      Also new potential injuries. I wonder what OSHA has to say about this? Progress is great, but I do agree that this is pushing the boundary in places when there are probably lots of other areas that could be improved for similar results. The money for this probably came out of a different bucket, to use the business lingo, and I’ve always hated that accounting excuse…seeing expensive toys being bought for one purpose while workers deal with old and broken crap because their “bucket” budget was strained. From a Fortune 400 company…

    • ringwraithfish@startrek.websiteEnglish
      6·
      11 months ago

      Brand new warehouses are probably good for this. What about the warehouse that has been around for 50+ years with cracks and settled concrete everywhere. It’s like Google Glass: an innovation with no real world problem to solve.

  • JackLSauce@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9·
    11 months ago

    Gonna repress my initial cynicism and legitimately ask what this solves that the scooters already present in many warehouses don’t?