It’s good to see the new troops in the upcoming robot revolution appearing in the local Walmart where the public can see directly how the workplace is changing. The new machine is an automated shelf-scanner that scoots along the aisles to check on supply and correct pricing.

Store inventory is a good fit for a robot counter on wheels, as Walmart has apparently decided.

The San Francisco CBS station presented the video report below, where one Walmart shopper, Deborah Espinoza, was bright enough to question the related job loss. An employee San Jose Airport, she said that cashiers ware laid off there when automated checkout was introduced. The Walmart spokesperson had a noncommittal response to that, saying it’s still too early to say how the robots will impact their workforce. Right.

The robot shelf-scanner is another example of how automation is about to change the workplace fundamentally, and millions of jobs will likely be lost to smart machines in the coming decades. There’s not a lot that can be done, although ending the immigration of low-skilled persons is indicated because machines will soon be doing those jobs.