Robots have gotten very advanced lately. Modern robots can move about, avoiding obstacles, learning where obstacles are, and can manipulate objects like a pro. This gives me an idea to improve office productivity.
A set of robots, each dedicated to one task, roams the office in a set pattern. One replaces every garbage can with a fresh one. At the end of its route, all the cans are dumped into a larger container. One passes around coffee, tea, and/or snacks. It should also take away old cups, depositing them in a washing machine at the end of the route. One delivers mail with an internal map of which worker is in which cubicle. One brings paperwork left on it to the manager's desk. And one vacuums. (That one has already been invented, and there are at least 4 brands on the market.)
With these robots, workers don't have to worry about trivial tasks, and can keep up flow for a bit longer. They will still require breaks from work occasionally, and I suspect social networking would fill the gap. If they learn any new information from that, their productivity will improve.
2 comments:
Didn't you just describe the minimum wage office boy?
Or a corporate slave?
In fact in Japan they call them pink collar workers who do precisely the things you describe.
Sounds like a really crappy job, but in this economy, I think we'll take it.
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