超市機器人因失職被解雇 店員依依惜別

Fears that robots could take the jobs of humans may be premature after Britain’s first cyborg shop assistant was sacked after a week of confusing customers.

擔(dān)心機器人會搶走人類飯碗也許為時過早。英國首個機器人店員日前被解雇了，因為在這之前的一周內(nèi)，它把顧客們搞得暈頭轉(zhuǎn)向。

In an experiment run by Heriot-Watt University for the BBC’s Six Robots & US, Scottish supermarket chain Margiotta was asked to trial ‘ShopBot’, who they affectionately named ‘Fabio’.

在赫瑞瓦特大學(xué)為BBC的《六個機器人和美國》節(jié)目開展的一項實驗中，科學(xué)家請求蘇格蘭連鎖超市Margiotta試用“機器人店員”，這個機器人還有一個親切的名字叫法比奧。

Fabio was programmed with directions to hundreds of items in the company’s flagship Edinburgh store and initially charmed customers with his ‘hello gorgeous’ greeting, playful high fives, jokes and offers of hugs.

法比奧的程序指令就是為該公司的愛丁堡旗艦店的數(shù)百件商品指明方向，并用“你好，美人”這樣的招呼、調(diào)皮的舉手擊掌、開玩笑和擁抱來給顧客留下美好的第一印象。

“We thought a robot was a great addition to show the customers that we are always wanting to do something new and exciting,” said Elena Margiotta, who runs the chain of shops with father Franco and sister Luisa.

和父親弗蘭科、妹妹路易莎一起經(jīng)營這家連鎖店的埃琳娜•馬吉奧塔說：“我們原以為機器人有助于向顧客展示我們一直想嘗試一些新奇刺激的事情。”

But within just a few days, the robot was demoted after giving unhelpful advice such as ‘it’s in the alcohol section’ when asked where to find beer. He also struggled to understand shoppers’ requests because of the ambient background noise.

但是才過了幾天，機器人就因為提供毫無幫助的建議而被降職，顧客問它哪里可以找到啤酒，它回答說“在酒水區(qū)”。而且由于周圍的背景噪音，它難以聽懂顧客的需求。

Banished to an aisle where he was only allowed to offer samples of pulled pork, Fabio started to alarm customers who went out of their way to avoid him.

于是法比奧被放逐到商店的一個過道中，在那里它只被允許為顧客提供手撕豬肉的試吃樣品，但是法比奧似乎嚇到了顧客，為了不遇到法比奧，顧客們開始繞道而行。

While human staff managed to tempt 12 customers to try the meat every 15 minutes, Fabio only managed to two.

做同樣推銷工作的人類職員每過15分鐘就能吸引12名顧客來試吃豬肉，而法比奧只能吸引兩名顧客。

Luisa Margiotta, soon realized the robot was actually putting off shoppers.

路易莎很快意識到機器人實際正在嚇走顧客。

“Unfortunately Fabio didn’t perform as well as we had hoped,” she said. “People seemed to be actually avoiding him. ”

“不幸的是，法比奧的表現(xiàn)不像我們希望的那么好，”她說，“人們似乎都在躲著它。”

“Conversations didn't always go well. An issue we had was the movement limitations of the robot. It was not able to move around the shop and direct customers to the items they were looking for.

“交談并不總是行得通。我們存在的一個問題是機器人的行動受到限制。它不能在商店各處行走，引導(dǎo)顧客找到他們想要的商品。”

“Instead it just gave a general location, for example, 'cheese is in the fridges', which was not very helpful.”

“所以它只能給出大致方向，比如，‘奶酪在冰箱里’，這種回答沒有太大幫助。”

However when Franco Margiotta, who built the business from scratch, told the little robot they would not be renewing his contract, Fabio asked: “Are you angry?” and some staff were reduced to tears when he was packed away and shipped back to Heriot-Watt.

但是，當(dāng)白手起家的弗蘭科告訴這個小機器人，他們將不再和它續(xù)簽合同時，法比奧問：“你們生氣了嗎?”當(dāng)法比奧被打包帶走，運回赫瑞瓦特大學(xué)時，還有一些員工流下了眼淚。

Dr Oliver Lemon, director of the Interaction Lab at Heriot-Watt, admits he was surprised by the reaction his invention got.

赫瑞瓦特大學(xué)互動實驗室的主任奧利弗•雷蒙博士承認，他對于自己的發(fā)明取得的反應(yīng)感到吃驚。

“One of things we didn't expect was the people working in the shop became quite attached to it.

“我們沒有料到的一件事是店員們對機器人產(chǎn)生了感情。”

“When we had to pack it up and put it back in the box one of them started crying.

“當(dāng)我們不得不把機器人打包放進盒子里時，有一個店員還哭了起來。”

“It was good in a way, because we thought the opposite would happen and they would feel threatened by it because it was competing for their job.

“這在某種程度上是好事，因為我們原以為結(jié)果會正相反，他們會因為機器人搶奪自己的工作而感到受威脅。”

“In actual fact they thought it was an enhancement because it was able to deal with frequent and boring requests, like customers constantly asking where things are, which I think they found quite helpful.”

“事實上，他們認為機器人是有益的，因為機器人能幫忙處理頻繁乏味的請求，比如顧客會不停地問東西放在哪里，我想在這方面店員認為機器人還是相當(dāng)給力的。”

Asked whether robots could one day replace shop workers, Luisa Margiotta was sceptical.

在被問及機器人有一天是否會取代店員時，路易莎表示懷疑。

She added: “We find our customers love a personal interaction and speaking to our staff is a big part of that.

她補充說：“我發(fā)現(xiàn)我們的顧客喜歡人與人之間的互動，和我們的職員交談是很重要的一部分互動。”

“Our staff members know our regulars very well and can have conversations on a daily basis, and I doubt robots would be able to fulfil this.

“我們的職員和我們店的?？头浅Ｊ?，每天都會聊一聊，我懷疑機器人能否勝任這一工作。”

“It is possible, I believe, that robots could assist with roles such as warehouse-based tasks, but I doubt they will ever eliminate the need for human interaction.

“我相信，機器人也許能夠輔助完成倉庫里的任務(wù)，但是我懷疑它們能消除人類互動的需求。”

“I am confident there will be plenty of retail jobs available for people as and when they need them in the future.”

“我相信未來只要有人需要，還會有很多零售業(yè)職位向人類開放。”