I was interested by the comment at the end that children start to pick up trash after seeing the robot. Certainly better not to have anything to pick up in the first place though.
Nelson Brown Rhys Taylor - You both made good points. I was thinking of the "big picture" when I said "buttheads". In other words, I wasn't limiting the scope to Thailand. In my opinion, anyone who started smoking after 1990 is an idiot. Does that sound offensive? Don't expect an apology.
David Lazarus - I am surprised by the number of smokers in Europe. I was unable to avoid it on train platforms and footpaths/sidewalks. It seems like a small thing, but it sticks out in my memory of otherwise great experiences.
I've had a similar idea to beachbots, but instead of treads and sifting I'm imagining a stilt-legged crab marching through the desert picking up bits with machine vision and claws.
Well, that varies a lot from place to place. The UK prohibited smoking inside public places some time ago. Coming to Prague, I was stunned by the level of smoke. There were places which made my eyes sting. I don't honestly know if this was just the shock of returning to a level of smoke I'd forgotten or if Czechs were always much more enthusiastic smokers than than the Brits.
The Czech Republic followed the rest of Europe in banning indoor smoking more recently, and the air quality inside has improved by hundreds of orders of magnitude. It's hard to judge if this is related, but these days even being inconvenienced by a smoker outdoors is a memorable event.
Perhaps another alternative would be robots that periodically make trips to beachgoers (or just move in set lanes) allowing them to collect their trash for them. Then the rubbish never even has to contact the sand at all and the tourists don't have to move anywhere.
Chicago has improved radically over the past two decades. Streets and San runs street sweepers aggressively through every neighborhood at least one day per week and daily down in the Loop. The courts supply vast numbers of community service workers to sweep sidewalks and clean around bus stops and those crews are out doing their work (serving time for minor petty offenses) at least twice a week that I've noticed.
William Black - If authorities highly enforced littering laws and implemented a $500 fine for doing such, I'll bet people would stop littering pretty quickly. As I recall, Singapore does something similar. If you're even caught spitting in public, they will fine you!
Now that surveillance cameras are ubiquitous, I wonder if anyone is applying AI to look for specific behaviors and flag them for intervention.
That is, not only is the security guard scanning the CCTV feeds, but there's also algorithms looking for signature movements and alerting the guard when it sees potential littering, smoking, or other prohibited actions.
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I think it would be better to get rid of the buttheads that think the world is their trash can. Short of that, yes, send some of those to the US.
ReplyDeleteDavid Lazarus - Thailand needs those buttheads (aka tourists) to support the economy.
ReplyDeleteIMHO the cleaning robots should be secret. If humans think the robot will clean up after them, they will litter even more egregiously.
ReplyDeleteI was interested by the comment at the end that children start to pick up trash after seeing the robot. Certainly better not to have anything to pick up in the first place though.
ReplyDeleteNelson Brown Rhys Taylor - You both made good points. I was thinking of the "big picture" when I said "buttheads". In other words, I wasn't limiting the scope to Thailand. In my opinion, anyone who started smoking after 1990 is an idiot. Does that sound offensive? Don't expect an apology.
ReplyDeleteDavid Lazarus Well, I assumed you meant to get rid of butthead behaviour rather than the buttheads themselves... :P
ReplyDeleteDavid Lazarus - I am surprised by the number of smokers in Europe. I was unable to avoid it on train platforms and footpaths/sidewalks. It seems like a small thing, but it sticks out in my memory of otherwise great experiences.
ReplyDeleteRhys Taylor - Assuming they could be "reprogrammed", that would be a reasonable alternative.
ReplyDeleteNelson Brown - That's disappointing. I'd like to explore Europe someday. Not sure if I'll ever get there in this lifetime though.
ReplyDeleteI've had a similar idea to beachbots, but instead of treads and sifting I'm imagining a stilt-legged crab marching through the desert picking up bits with machine vision and claws.
ReplyDeleteWhy not solar power in both cases?
Well, that varies a lot from place to place. The UK prohibited smoking inside public places some time ago. Coming to Prague, I was stunned by the level of smoke. There were places which made my eyes sting. I don't honestly know if this was just the shock of returning to a level of smoke I'd forgotten or if Czechs were always much more enthusiastic smokers than than the Brits.
ReplyDeleteThe Czech Republic followed the rest of Europe in banning indoor smoking more recently, and the air quality inside has improved by hundreds of orders of magnitude. It's hard to judge if this is related, but these days even being inconvenienced by a smoker outdoors is a memorable event.
Perhaps another alternative would be robots that periodically make trips to beachgoers (or just move in set lanes) allowing them to collect their trash for them. Then the rubbish never even has to contact the sand at all and the tourists don't have to move anywhere.
ReplyDeleteChicago has improved radically over the past two decades. Streets and San runs street sweepers aggressively through every neighborhood at least one day per week and daily down in the Loop. The courts supply vast numbers of community service workers to sweep sidewalks and clean around bus stops and those crews are out doing their work (serving time for minor petty offenses) at least twice a week that I've noticed.
ReplyDeleteRhys Taylor - Unfortunately, I don't think the bots could patrol frequently enough to prevent littering.
ReplyDeleteWilliam Black - If authorities highly enforced littering laws and implemented a $500 fine for doing such, I'll bet people would stop littering pretty quickly. As I recall, Singapore does something similar. If you're even caught spitting in public, they will fine you!
ReplyDeleteNow that surveillance cameras are ubiquitous, I wonder if anyone is applying AI to look for specific behaviors and flag them for intervention.
ReplyDeleteThat is, not only is the security guard scanning the CCTV feeds, but there's also algorithms looking for signature movements and alerting the guard when it sees potential littering, smoking, or other prohibited actions.
Nelson Brown - If that's not already in place, I'm sure it will be pretty soon. Long live the Orwellian dream!
ReplyDelete