Google ‘fires’ 100 robots who used to clean cafeterias at its headquarters

Gulf Today Report

Robots have started doing human tasks, if the success of chatGPT is any indication. But can they meet the same fate of human beings, where layoffs are concerned? Well, apparently, yes.

Internet giant Google recently fired thousands of workers. But along with that, around 100 robots were given the ‘pink slip,’ so to speak.

The robots used to clean the firm’s cafeterias at its headquarters.

What happened? Were the robots not performing up to the mark? Were they being underutilised? Apparently, not. The reason for this appears to be something else: trimming the budget.

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Google’s parent firm Alphabet used to have a project called 'Everyday robots'. This was a unit under Google's experimental X laboratories. Now this has been shuttered by Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

Alphabet has working over the last few years to develop a hardware and software system for learning, including the transfer of knowledge from the virtual to the actual world.

The tech firm had trained 100 one-armed, wheeled robots to help clean the company's cafeterias.

Several of these robot prototypes were transported out of the lab and were doing useful duties throughout Google's Bay Area facilities.

They used to wipe the tables clean and even separate waste and recycling, according to Indo-Asian News Service.

The robots also helped keep the meeting and conference rooms spic and span during the pandemic.

They slowly started improving their tasks, using techniques such as reinforcement learning, collaborative learning, and learning from demonstration.

With the robot division now shut off, some of its technology could be used for other divisions, feels the firm’s management.

In a bid to prune expenses further, Google has even asked employees who return to work to share their work desks with a "partner" to maximise office space.