h a l f b a k e r yRomantic, but doomed to fail.
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This animatronic dummy mounted on a roomba-like platform would make a shop or restaurant look busier. Theoretically people would notice the shop is open and think it must be decent if people are browsing.
...Inflatable?
https://youtu.be/rQbj9uvYL8I [Frankx, Sep 29 2021]
Shop_20Windows_20of...iprocated_20Duality
Window display version [xenzag, Sep 29 2021]
[link]
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Clever, although it would feel slightly odd eating in a
crowded restaurant and realising that all the other diners
are robots |
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Are you going to take this to the natural conclusion where
they don't get a
good seat because decoys are already sitting in all of the good
spots? |
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[Skewed] - that makes sense. If the robots are designed to
be really good at appearing to be having a good time then,
as a restaurant owner, you'd rather have them, rather than
some random, ugly punter, sitting in all the good spots
overlooking the street. |
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Would be more convincing if you hired live humans instead of using animatronic dummies. |
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Why would anyone hire someone when the dummy is cheaper
[poc]? only way that works is if you get taxed as much for
each dummy you use as it would cost you to hire someone,
the basic facts of supply & demand aren't your friends there if
you
don't. |
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You could cut the cost of the robots by making them simple string puppets
instead, and then fulfil [pocmloc]'s wish to employ real live humans by having
the room above the restaurant full of live human puppeteers, controlling all
the life-size puppets. |
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Then you've all the same expenses as hiring someone plus
the initial outlay for the dummy [hippo], won't work
economically either, one or two
novelty theme concept
restaurants might make a go of it for a while with the right
advertising strategy but it wouldn't work as a general thing. |
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Clever, it would feel slightly gratifying eating in a crowded
restaurant and realising that all the other diners are also
robots. |
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I'm thinking you could get real humans for cheap if you offer
them free food. You want some sort of program where they
know they are invited for the purpose of enhancing the
dining atmosphere, so they would be given instructions
ahead of time on the style of dress, and their performance
would be graded. The better they perform, the more likely to
get invited back, or invited to other restaurants participating
in the program. |
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^ Dinner & a show! (Or dinner IS the show... or something.) |
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//Why would anyone hire someone when the dummy is cheaper// |
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This question could be asked of any business - estate agents, professional football, lawyers, politicians... yet somehow, the extra expense of hiring a living human seems to give enough extra productivity that humans are still hired for these positions. |
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In practical terms I imagine Mr and Mrs Sucker strolling down the street. "Look at that restaurant! Its heaving! There's only two tables left at the back!" "Yes dear but the clientele looks a bit stiff and lifeless, they dont seem to be having a great time" "OK how about this next one? Its heaving with living breathing human beings and there's only two tables left at the back" "Yes that feels much more inviting lets go in and spend £200 on lacklusture service and mediocre quantities of industrially produced food" etc. etc. |
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Sadly free food isn't free to the business, you're still
paying them, just not with money. |
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//could be asked of // estate agents, professional football,
lawyers, politicians... yet // humans are still hired // |
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Really? the evidence from these industries would seem to
contradict the claim, have you ever dealt with an estate
agent? I thought all those already used dummies. |
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[Skewed] believe it or not, over 25% of employees in those sectors are living humans. |
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I'm shocked! as many as that, hard to believe. |
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I just imagine inflatable "auto-diners" built into the seat of
the chairs, that inflate when the chair is vacated, and then
deflate as needed to make space for an incoming customer.
Some minor motor functions to flail the hands and
occasionally nod head in appreciation |
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Perhaps some recorded conversation..."My! This bolognese
is delicious!"..."Oh yes, I'll definitely have the tiramisu" |
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Inspired by the autopilot in Airplane. [link] |
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