Tech

Are humanoid robots coming to your workplace?

As companies increasingly invest in robotics, the probability that you’ll be working with them is only increasing. For years, a handful of startups, like Figure AI, Agility AI, and Apptronik have been dumping millions of dollars into research to help develop humanoid robots and gained large investors along the way.

Notable investors in Figure AI include Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Microsoft, Nvidia, and others. Finally, after raising all the money, these companies have something to show for it. The first humanoid models will be joining the workforce, with Amazon, Tesla, BMW, and Mercedes saying they’ll put them to the test.

The bipedal problem

While companies wanting to take in the robots for a test run is promising, creating a bipedal robot that can interact with its environment and perform a multitude of tasks is anything but easy.

• Modern industrial robots, on the other hand, are built to perform a singular specific task while remaining as functional as possible.

• This new generation of bipedal robots are made to be put in almost any environment and be of use, which, as you can imagine, is much more complex to build.

One bipedal robot you’ve probably seen is Boston Dynamics’ Atlas, who they call “the worlds most dynamic humanoid robot,” which may be true, but Atlas is mainly a conduit for further research and development, and not meant to be applied to any fields.

Another one you may have seen is his four legged friend, Spot (also created by Boston Dynamics), who is being utilized in law enforcement, and has been bought by over 1,000 different individuals, agencies, and companies to be used for various purposes.

So what’s the main issue? The biggest issue with a bipedal robot is maintaining its center of gravity. As soon as a bipedal robot tries to lift something, the issues roll in. While Spot is out being used practically, it’s also a quadruped robot, meaning its center of gravity is much easier to keep stable, as it has two pairs of legs.

While humans have evolved to adjust their center of gravity when bending over to pick up a box, per say, to replicate the same for robots, it requires a complex feat of software engineering to make it a possibility.

Why deal with the mess?

If creating such a robot is so difficult, why bother? If companies want to robotize their environments, a bipedal robot would allow them to utilize the technology while keeping the same layout that was designed for humans to navigate.

This is why these large companies that deal with distribution and manufacturing are testing and investing in the bipedal robots; instead of radically redesigning their warehouses around the typical industrial robots, they can design a bipedal robot that can navigate the spaces they have already built.

Essentially, it’s a matter of convenience (and money of course).

Ever heard of a work from home cashier?

While you’re ordering your burrito, the one taking your order is in a different country. An X user, Brett Goldstein, posted a picture that went viral of the restaurant’s cashier taking his order via Zoom. However, Goldstein isn’t alone in getting his order taken from another continent.

Sansan Chicken, where Goldstein noticed the digital cashier, along with two other chain restaurants in NYC, have been hiring “work from home cashiers” from the Philippines.

• They’re all employed by the company Happy Cashier, which allows restaurants to outsource labor abroad, while spending less money on staffing.

It’s certainly a cheaper option…

…But customers don’t seem to like the idea. A Canadian chain restaurant, Freshii, faced criticism when consumers discovered they were paying remote cashiers $3.75 an hour in 2022.

However, while it may seem unethical to customers, it might be a win for both Sansan Chicken and its remote cashiers:

• Purdue University management professor, Mohammad Rahman, told Fortune that the Philippines-based employees may still be making more than the country’s median wage, despite the chain only paying them 10% of what they would pay a typical, in-store employee.

• A remote Sansan cashier told the New York Post that they also receive tips and split them with service staff who work in the store.

As minimum wage, rent, and the general cost of living rises, restaurants are looking to cut costs where they can, with some chains reporting mass layoffs.

Many owners say they either have to increase the price of food or fire employees to stay afloat. Sansan, however, may have found an alternate route that can prevent them from doing either.

Restaurants aren’t the only ones going remote: A reply to Goldstein’s X post showed a hotel in Uruguay with remote security guards. Not too sure how well that one would work.

Economy

Inflation is on the come up

The Bureau of Labor Statistics report ushered in the numbers for last month, and they aren’t looking great. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures how much everyday goods and services cost, showed that that last month’s inflation stayed above where the Fed wanted it to be.

The CPI grew at a faster pace than expected, which pushed inflation higher and delayed Wall Street’s hopes that the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates sooner rather than later.

What are the main data points?

Here are the main numbers that you need to know:

• In March, inflation rose 3.5% from the year before, up from 3.2% in February.

• The “core” CPI reading, which excludes food and fuel prices (because they’re pretty volatile), came in even higher, rising 3.8% on an annual basis.

  • This is the same as February, but it’s a much bigger deal this time (see below).

• Half of the increases came from rising gas prices and housing.

Why is this an issue? After inflation fell by 3% throughout last year, Fed officials thought that higher inflation readings in January and February of this year were an outlier from the data that looked like inflation was trending downward.

• However, with the March reading worse than expected, analysts say this isn’t just a fluke.

• This also means hopes for a June interest rate cut went down the drain.

A sign for things to come: According to CME Group, traders don’t expect an interest rate reduction until September. UBS economists are also predicting September for the cuts, while Goldman Sachs put out a more “half glass full” take, expecting interest rate cuts in July.

The election could spice things up

The predictions for potential rate-cuts are all near the next presidential election, which could have an effect on when they may get passed. Principal Asset Management Chief Global Strategist Seema Shah said that even in July, “the US election will begin to intrude with Fed decision-making.”

Voters will be taking inflation into consideration: The Wall Street Journal recently surveyed voters (in the 7 most competitive states) and found that 74% thought inflation has trended the wrong way in the past year.

Grab Bag

The cosmetic industry is tumbling

The cosmetic industry thrived in the pandemic, so it was bound to slow down. But it’s almost stopped entirely. Ulta Beauty told investors earlier this month that its beauty division has seen a much larger than expected drop in demand, but it expects it to rise again later this year.

What’s going on?

Ulta CEO Dave Kimbell said tight competition in the luxury makeup and hair care space were the reasons for the drop in demand. He also warned that Ulta will probably post low-single-digit growth this quarter if demand doesn’t grow.

• The company’s shares are down nearly 17% since the news, losing 15% in one day following the comments (which was its largest single-day loss in over a year).

The news even affected Ulta’s competitors: elf Beauty’s stock recorded its worst day since May 2020, sinking around 12%, while Estée Lauder and Coty each dipped about 5%.

Not looking good

Ulta and other cosmetic companies prospered through the pandemic, so much so, they got their own financial indicator: the “lipstick index”. The index assumes people still buy small, gratifying purchases (like lipstick) during times of economic hardship, which is what kept the cosmetic industry afloat (and recession proof, according to some).

However, that isn’t the case. Ulta’s sales growth target for the year is only 4% to 5%, which falls below Wall Street’s estimates. Estée Lauder, another beauty company, said it was firing 3% to 5% of its staff in February as a response to waning demand.

Not all the news is bad: Over late December, higher-priced goods saw a 16% sales growth in households with children under 18 and a above average income, compared to 6% growth among households making the same that have no children.

Lunchables were found to have lead in them

Everyone’s favorite middle school lunch has been found to be unsafe for kids. Last week, Consumer Reports (CR) said scientists found hormone-disrupting chemicals and high levels of lead and sodium in Lunchables.

What now?

Because of the findings, CR strongly recommended that the USDA abolish two “school version” Lunchables from the National School Lunch Program for low-income students. This is what was found in the tests:

• Lunchables’ Turkey and Cheddar Cracker Stackers, Pizza with Pepperoni, and Extra Cheesy Pizza flavors were found to contain 69%–74% of California’s recommended daily maximum for lead ingestion (there’s no federal limit) and 34%–49% of daily recommended sodium intake.

• The school versions (which are supposed to be healthier) had more sodium than the name brand Lunchables sold in stores.

Why are these even on the menu?

According to the Washington Post, giant food companies lobbied lawmakers to lower the federal nutrition standards to the point where mostly processed foods like Lunchables qualify for the National School Lunch Program.

Kraft Heinz, the owner of Lunchables, responded by saying “All our foods meet strict safety standards that we happily feed to our own families. Lead and cadmium occur naturally in the environment and may be present in low levels in food products.”

I’m sure that fixes everything.

Fast Facts

Cicada Catastrophe: A trillion cicadas will swarm the country in May, and if you lined them up, they would reach the moon and back 33 times, a Smithsonian employee told the NYT.

Short Supply: A record 323 medications are in short supply in the US. Many are older, generic drugs that pharmaceutical companies aren’t incentivized to make.

Lego of It: Police in LA arrested four members of a Lego crime ring that stole over $300k in Lego sets from stores in order to resell them. Similar rings have popped up in Seattle and France.

Stamp Stickler: The postal service plans to raise the price of “forever” stamps to $0.73 in July.

Music Manipulator: Spotify is reportedly developing a tool that allows users to speed up, edit, and manipulate songs in other ways.