The push for automation has been going on much longer than the silly $15 per hour demands by burger flippers, but those demands are sure to hasten the process. Simple economics: the higher the cost of labor, the money you will spend to automate to reduce your expenses.
I guess it's somewhat of a cautionary tale. There's been a lot of hubbub about $15 per hour for essentially menial jobs. Supply and demand have prevented that from happening, but the agitation has led to an increase in the drive to automate away those jobs. So now the workers essentially got a double whammy: they didn't get the $15 per hour they demanded, and they will lose the jobs they have to automation sooner than before.