Greetings Puny Human Blackjack Players

 
Developments in technology, specifically in robotics, mean that we’re likely to see robotic staff on casino floors in the very near future.

Picture the scene. You stroll pleasantly down the Strip in Las Vegas, it’s a clement evening and the busy crowds make for interesting people-watching moments as you pass the numerous casinos that inhabit the area. Suddenly a six foot tall figure with broad shoulders approaches, appearing chiseled of features and with what seems an overly developed physique, it eyes you sullenly a moment then holds out what might be a hand saying, in a strangely deep, somewhat Austrian accent, “Come with me if you want to gamble!”

No, don’t worry, casinos haven’t started employing Terminators to drag people off the streets and into a blackjack tournament just yet (although I suspect in Atlantic City’s current desperation they might consider it) but the robot invasion has begun and it’s only a matter of time before casinos are home to robotic staff. The once unwieldy room sized machines that took over repetitive tasks in car factories are now far more flexible in function and have started to infiltrate other businesses already doing some jobs familiar to casino staff.

Waiter There’s An Android In My Soup!

The Starwood Hotel chain might be the first but their introduction of robots to act as staff merely heralds the start of a trend experts have long seen coming. The sinisterly named “Botlr” will act as waiter and butler, navigating the corridors and riding the elevators, to provide 24 hour service to guests, and it’s not just hotels where the robots are consolidating a beach-head with the Tate Britain now allowing these electronic interlopers to guide visitors around the museum at night, apparently unconcerned by the threat of android ambush.

As robots begin to replace low-paid-low-skill job workers across the world will this give more time for leisure and education or merely create massive unemployment and economic collapse? Experts are divided pretty equally on that, so place your bets where you wish, but know this, the chances are in the very near future as you sit in a casino practicing your blackjack strategy an almost perfect human facsimile will approach you and, in voice hopefully nothing like Stephen Hawking’s, ask
– “Hello Carbon Based Meatsack, Can I Get You A Drink?”