We're all only about ten years away from sauntering into stores, grabbing whatever it is we want, then quick-stepping out like we stole it. It'll be possible because many shops will be ringed with machine vision-enabling cameras and sensors, that keep tabs on what you take while inside and then charge it to the corresponding app as you leave. Analysts say the big shift is being ushered in by retailers trying to stave off the online shopping explosion. People tend to cite crowds and lines as reasons they avoid stores, so the hope is that tech will be the savior of the remaining brick and mortar mainstays. But while that checkout change might thrill some customers, it'll also dramatically change employment for low-skilled retail jobs and comes with a host of privacy concerns.

The US is facing an agricultural worker shortage, along with aging farm owners, at the same time it juggles demand in food from a global population boom. If we're being blunt, those elements added together would mean farmers and production are straight screwed. Luckily, some engineers and researchers are creating robots that are already beginning to ease the load. Blue River Technology in Sunnyvale, California is testing "See and Spray"-- machine learning and AI software inside a robotic tractor attachment that aims to change the chemical game. The program can recognize the difference between crops and weeds, then sprays herbicide only on the unwanted plant.

Your online delivery habit is facing a growing problem: the rising number of packages needing delivery, combined with a projected deficit in truck drivers (PDF). But that's the issue a company like Starship Technologies is trying to solve. It just started testing a delivery robot in US cities (though the company has been overseas for a few years, already) and is hoping both its design and cost win over any skeptics worried about a robot that knows where they live and what kind of food they like. Don't miss the next episode of Future IRL on March 7th, when we'll be looking at the future of virtual reality.

It's the middle of the week, and we're here to help. Besides a brand new episode of The Future IRL, we have a new record broken by Tesla and a 5,000-year-old beer recipe. If you, like Dave Chappelle, believe everything is better in slow motion, then we have good news. Sony just announced its latest camera sensor for smartphones, which is capable of recording HD (1,920 x 1,080) video at 1,000fps, which it says is about 8x the speed of any other chip. Plus, it can pull this off without producing any of that wobbly jello-like distortion effect.

If you've spent any time on Kickstarter, you've already seen those questionable rolling trashcan bots mixed among promising pieces of tech. You might even start thinking truly useful home-based robots have arrived. The first domestic robots started cropping up in the '80s. But, while the Hero-1 might have inspired a generation of roboticists, public perception of robots in the home hasn't changed much since the Reagan era. Now a whole slew of bots, like Jibo, Pepper and Kuri are trying to worm their way into our hearts.

A week into the Trump administration, and it seems that many of the president's actions are courting disaster -- at least if you're a fan of open government or the environment. Meanwhile, Samsung appears to have recovered from its self-created catastrophe known as the Note 7. Chris Velazco recounted the sequence of events that led to the company's apology for its flaming devices and -- given this week's glowing quarterly earnings report -- painted a surprisingly rosy picture for the firm moving forward. It seems that Sony could take some notes from Samsung's focus on making amends to consumers. So, this week he gave Sony some very pointed advice on how it should better serve its customers. And finally, while Samsung's future was looking good for the first time in months, Christopher Trout went to the Adult Entertainment Expo to see an X-rated hologram and discover what's next for porn. What he found was an industry in the midst of a comeback, powered by VR and mobile livestreaming.

Fictional housekeeping robots and the flying smart cars in The Fifth Element have inspired technologists to keep pushing the bounds of electronics for years, which is how we've gotten video chatting and bluetooth in our cars. But pop culture has also served up many warnings. Who among you doesn't remember Hal, the calmly murderous computer from A Space Odyssey, without shuddering in horror? If you haven't realized it yet, the technology these fictional stories foretold is being constructed in the real world right now. The reality can be awe inspiring or frightening, but either way, should be carefully watched.