Supermarket hires Assistant robot and resigns a week later

Fabio was the first robot Assistant to be hired in Scotland, but was fired a week later. That's because he began to irritate consumers to answer questions in a way that is vague – and showed that robots need assistants evolve a little.
The robot "ShopBot" was developed at Heriot-Watt University and took over the job in a shop Margiotta, in Edinburgh. When Fabio came, had a good reception, giving high fives, hugs and getting customers with warm welcome.
But the charm is gone when Fabio started to answer your questions. When being asked where was the beer at the supermarket, the robot replied "is in the section of alcohol". The problem is that the robot was being too literal and failing to properly inform customers.
In addition, Fabio faced problems getting around by the supermarket, to direct customers to the desired products and also to hear them, because the background noise was distracting.
Fabio changed: instead of in the corridors, helping customers, went on to assist in sampling. Even so, your performance has not been good – when he persuaded two people to taste a snack, his colleagues conceived 12 people. No other choice but to send Fabio though.
And when that happened, Fabio asked who fired him: "are you mad?". Some employees were moved to the scene, and lack the robot would – despite poor performance. "One of the things that we did not expect is that people who work in the store would be attached to the robot. That was good, because we thought it would happen the opposite and they feel threatened because the robot would be competing for their jobs, "said Dr. Olive Lemon, inventor of Fabio and Director of the Interaction Lab in Heriot-Watt University.
For Dr. Lemon, Fabio experience wasn't a total failure. "In fact, the staff believed it was an improvement, since the robot was able to deal with frequently asked questions and tedious, as customers always asking where things were," he said.
But Luisa Margiotta, one of the store managers, has a different opinion. "Our employees know our loyal customers very well, and we can have conversations based on our routines. I doubt that robots can replace it. It is possible, I believe, that robots can help us in roles such as in stock, but I doubt that they eliminate the need for human interaction ", concludes.