One would think if you taught a robot to open a door, it would lead to a better and brighter tomorrow but in this case, the path leads to a dead end.

The post-Covid pandemic world has been a mix of everything. From the boom of artificial intelligence to serious recession and mass firings, we find ourselves in a confusing spot between excitement and worry.

And this recent report just adds to the latter because not only humans, but even robots aren’t safe from lay-offs.

Alphabet, Google‘s parent company, is shutting shops at Everyday Robots, the team that trained over a hundred one-armed, wheeled robots that cleaned cafeteria tables, separated trash and recycling and also, opened doors!

As per a report in Wired, Alphabet fired around 100 robots that cleaned its cafeterias at its headquarters as budget cuts spread across the Google parent.

The Everyday Robots project came out of Alphabet’s X moonshot lab just a year ago.

Several of these robot prototypes were transported out of the lab and were doing useful duties throughout Google’s Bay Area facilities.

These robots used to clean tables as well as separate trash and recycling. The robots also helped keep conference rooms clean during the pandemic.
They were also programmed and trained to open doors and replace missing chairs in the office with the help of different types of teaching techniques.

These robots, that basically kept Google’s headquarters well-maintained, worked on similar language models that the technology behind ChatGPT uses as it could understand verbal commands, take snack requests from employees and get the cleaning work done when someone requests help with a spill.

With the robot division now shut down by Google, some of its technology could be used for other divisions.

Alphabet has spent the last few years developing an integrated hardware and software system for learning, including the transfer of knowledge from the virtual to the actual world.