Manna

A software program that autonomously manages restaurants or other service industry businesses. (Read the full article)

"This is exactly how they get store orders stacked up in Wal-Mart Distribution Centers. When they come in, orderfillers don their headsets and climb on their power equipment (battery powered, two pallet fork trucks) and the computer assigns them a trip. This trip is made up of some number of slot assignments and when you arrive at a slot, you call off a three-digit check number to verify you are at the right slot. Then the headset tells you how many cases to pick and you stack it all up. This continues at each successive slot until the trip is done. At that point, you get another trip. To be successful at this (and also earn bonus money,) you have to time manage at the level of seconds. Every time you turn your head to recheck a slot number or you have to wait for another orderfiller, you have to earn those seconds back by working faster. If your pallets tip over, you have to pick them up and you have to earn that time back . You do get down time for equipment problems and breaks, but the minutes of travel time to and from the break room has to be earned back. The situation described in the robot-run restaurant sounded just like what Wal-mart orderfillers do every day. Every second is accounted for. And there are cameras almost everywhere (parking lot, cash registers, hallways, entrances and exits and in the aisles where the orderfillers work.) This might make you laugh, but aside from the main entrance, all the exit doors are alarmed so that security knows who opened what door at what time and they can review the camera aimed at that door."
( 6/19/2006 2:35:19 PM )
""The scariest thing about Manna is that anyone could implement it using present-day technology." Meet the real life version of Manna: "Hyperactive Bob", installed in the restaraunts of the Zaxby's fast-food chain. It might not be quite as over the top, but I believe it's just version 1... Full details: http://www.livescience.com/technology/060619_hyperactive_bob.html"
(TerrorBite 6/2/2007 11:57:02 PM )
"TerrorBite - I know; I wrote that article. It's taken from an article on this site. See http://technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=653
Thanks for writing anyway - my own sister has made that same kind of mistake; nobody checks the author of an article."
( 6/3/2007 5:30:04 AM )

More info on Manna

Leave a comment:

Tediously, spammers have returned. So, send me your comments to bill at the site name (be sure to mention the page) and I'll post them. Thanks!

 

 

 

Current News Articles

Europa Clipper Plate Carries A Special Message
'...a universal cryptogram — yet it is one which can be interpreted by any intelligent creature on any planet in the Solar System!'

Micro-Robots Are Smallest, Fully Functional
'With a whir, the Scarab shot from the concealing shadows of the corner where it had hidden itself.'

AI Enhances Images Your Brain Sees
'I could have sworn the psychomat showed pictures almost as sharp and detailed as reality itself'

Illustrating Classic Heinlein With AI
'Stasis, cold sleep, hibernation, hypothermia, reduced metabolism, call it what you will - the logistics-medicine research teams had found a way to stack people like cordwood and use them when needed.'

Deflector Plasma Screen For Drones ala Star Wars
'If the enemy persists in attacking or even intensifies their power, the density of the plasma in space will suddenly increase, causing it to reflect most of the incoming energy like a mirror.'

DIY Robotic Hand Made After Loss Of Fingers
'I made them... with the fine work of the watchmaker...'

Cheap Drunk Driver Detection From UofM
"Look, I can drive... Start, darn it!"

Can A Human Land A SpaceX Rocket On Its Tail?
'If she starts to roll sideways — blooey! The underjets only hold you up when they’re pointing down, you know.'

Robot Snakes No Longer Stopped By Stairs
'...she dropped her hands from the wheel, took the robot snake from his box.'

Has Turkey Been Stealing Rain From Iran?
Can one country take another's rain?

We Need To Build Anti-Drone Systems For Civilian Spaces
'the real border was defended by ...a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats...'

SensorWake Scent-Based Alarm Clock
'The odalarm awoke Jorj X. McKie with a whiff of lemon.'

Home | Glossary | Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.