Amazon will teach how to code

Last week Amazon launched its Amazon Future Engineer program that aims to teach more than 10 million students a year how to code. The company wants more young people to consider becoming computer engineers.

Amazon will pay for summer camps and other costs for young people from low-income families. It will also offer teacher training at low-income schools. The company hopes the programs will help bring more African-American, Hispanic and female students to the field of computer science.

Other technology companies, including Microsoft and Facebook, also have programs that bring coding to schools. There is a shortage of computer engineers, so teaching more students how to code will help strengthen the industry.

Jeff Wilke, Amazon’s head of Worldwide Consumer, hopes some of the students in the Amazon Future Engineer program will one day work for the company, especially in the development of voice assistant and drone technology. He believes that knowing how to code will be as important as knowing how to read for the jobs of the future.

Amazon Future Engineer will provide summer camps and after-school programs for students from kindergarten through 8th grade. The programs will take place in Amazon offices around the country. Volunteer workers will lead the programs. Online classes, lessons and games will be offered by Code.org and Coding with Kids.

Amazon will also pay for online training in computer science for teachers at 2,000 low-income high schools. In addition, it will offer scholarships and internships for college students.

Amazon said some schools are testing the program, including Monsignor Scanlan High School in New York City. Jennifer Tulipano, a science teacher at the school, began taking online coding classes in September.

Last month, she started teaching two computer science classes on how to create games and how to make animated characters. In her opinion, students need these skills  if they want to go into these fields in the future.

From VOA News  Edited

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Pizza Hut's 'Mobile Pizza Factory'

Tundra PIE Pro, a zero-emission 'mobile pizza factory.' Credit: Pizza Hut

As restaurant brands race to figure out how to incorporate delivery, Pizza Hut today announced a partnership with Toyota to develop a prototype vehicle that includes a “kitchen” that cooks pizzas en route to the customer.

The Tundra PIE Pro features a refrigerator, computer-guided robotic arms and a portable conveyor oven. The automated pizza-making process will take about 6 to 7 minutes from start to finish. The vehicle and all of its equipment are powered by a hydrogen-fuel-cell electric powertrain.

Pizza Hut’s objective with this prototype is to “bring the oven closer to the customer’s door,” according to COO Nicolas Burquier. “We’re exploring any opportunities to streamline our processes and systems  to make our team members’ lives easier and safer, and then we’re looking at how that impacts the customer experience.”

The Tundra PIE Pro is the second prototype between Toyota and Pizza Hut. The companies’ first blueprint is a fleet of driverless delivery vans. Both ideas have one major feature in common: automation.

When a pizza is ordered, the Tundra PIE Pro  first robotic arm will open the refrigerator and remove the selected pizza, place it on the oven conveyor, and return to close the refrigerator door. The pizza will then be sent through a high-speed oven. On the opposite side, a second arm will remove the finished pie, place it on the cutting board, divide it into six identical slices, boxe it up and deliver it to the customer. 

Pizza Hut is intensely focused on delivery right now. Last year the company hired 14,000 delivery drivers to speed up the service. It also developed a “delivery network algorithm” aimed at improving accuracy and reliability, introduced a new delivery pouch with 3M Thinsulate Insulation thermal technology, and launched the Pizza Hut Delivery Tracker, which includes Amazon Alexa and Chatbot ordering capabilities.

Burquier said  “The more we can reduce the time between the oven and the customer door, the better we can be. Our key driver is to improve the customer experience.”

Although the delivery space is getting increasingly crowded, Burquier believes Pizza Hut has an advantage in the pizza segment since it has more points of distribution, with about 6,300 U.S. locations. This is compared to Domino’s about 5,600 locations, Papa John’s 2,600 locations and Little Caesar’s about 4,300 locations.

Expect the delivery race to intensify. Competitor Domino’s is accelerating its driverless delivery vehicle test with Ford, and upstarts, like Pieology, are focusing on drone delivery. 

Who knows which technology will emerge as the most practical to scale, but the race to get there will be interesting.

From Forbes

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