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CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

thedailybeast.com

81–90 of 474 posts

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#81
post #5

Here's what I want robots to do: 1) Wash my dishes, dry them and put them away completely automatically. 2) Wash and dry my clothes, fold them and put them away completely automatically. These two things would save me hours of work per week. FoldiMate simply isn't even close to being good enough, but I'd be willing to spend about that much for a robot that could do #2. I can vacuum my floor by myself and greet people…

1) Get two dishwashers. Alternate them clean/dirty. Think of them as self-washing cabinets from sci-fi. 2) Get a laundry service or maid service. Save thousands of dollars.

Where are people getting kitchens that will fit multiple dishwashers? Even in my oversized Midwestern house, I'd be giving up a significant amount of storage space to rip out the cabinets to put in a second dishwasher.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#82
We are talking about machines but during my last trip to Japan I’ve been blown away by the domotic present in the appartment I rented. There was a self-filling bathtube that I could program directly from the kitchen.

Is there any « bathtube auto-fill/alexa » product in the US? I never been able to find something like that. I’d like to be able to ask alexa to prepare my bath while I’m cooking.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#83
A weird aspect of CES is that it's THE trade show that blows up outside the US on developing countries. News programs send people to report on what is absolutely certainly the future and coming up if they were to be believed. I've always found it surprising, as no true disruptors are revealed there, and every year it seems to get worse as the article notes.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#84
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) Get two dishwashers. Alternate them clean/dirty. Think of them as self-washing cabinets from sci-fi. 2) Get a laundry service or maid service. Save thousands of dollars.

Am I the only one that washes dishes immediately after use? No need to even use the machine. Wash immediately after use, let them dry on rack, wipe and put away. Dishes and laundry are a total non-issue.

Have a family of 7 and get back to me on that one. Edit: not trying to be snarky but a use case for a single person or small family breaks down quickly when you have young kids and have special diets(that require an entirely different set of dishes) then you can see where automation is useful.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#85

Anyone here go to CES who can corroborate the linked story?

That stupid laundry folding robot was there. They had a "show" every 15 minutes or so where they would pick a person from the audience to stuff clothes into the machine and have them not folded (the demo machine only had the loader). I didn't see the crashed companion robots. They were working when I walked by, but I didn't pay them much mind because I thought they were stupid. There were also a number of advertising…

The companion robots were there last year too (in Sands IIRC). They were also working when I passed them .. singing a creepy old McDonald had a farm. I spoke to a rep and she said kids can get rough with these things so they are targeting seniors. Yeah.. I dunno about this one.

Cruzr was a big robot from a Shenzen company. I really liked it. I have seen Jibo in action .. the Cruzr I saw had a personality that surpised me!

I thought there was another laundry robot that won a prize. I went to a "demo time" but it wasn't a demo .. it was just a talk. They had a video from inside the robot and they were obscuring things. My personal opinion but I was very annoyed at the lack of demo (so were others) and felt they might be hiding something.

The table tennis robot was pretty awesome and so was the dobot magician. I could hardly believe that the same arm was used as a 3d printer, a lazer engraver and a paint brush.

Some of the VR stuff I saw was disappointing. The pimax guys were running the Blu demo .. what a horrible demo to show case their tech. I couldn't tell a difference between it and my oculus. I tried the HTC vive pro at the Intel booth and it was decent (I was able to clearly read text). But what blew me away was the Sansar VR demo.

I was stupid and skipped the Intel wireless headset demo .. kicking myself over it. Saw a bunch of engineering demos that were very cool.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#86
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) Get two dishwashers. Alternate them clean/dirty. Think of them as self-washing cabinets from sci-fi. 2) Get a laundry service or maid service. Save thousands of dollars.

Am I the only one that washes dishes immediately after use? No need to even use the machine. Wash immediately after use, let them dry on rack, wipe and put away. Dishes and laundry are a total non-issue.

Indeed, the dishwasher is the first appliance that I'd be willing to give up, especially if the space were occupied by a well designed drying rack with drain. I guess I could use the dishwasher for that purpose, and not run it.

We're a family of 4. My trick is that I'm super damn quick.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) Get two dishwashers. Alternate them clean/dirty. Think of them as self-washing cabinets from sci-fi. 2) Get a laundry service or maid service. Save thousands of dollars.

Where are people getting kitchens that will fit multiple dishwashers? Even in my oversized Midwestern house, I'd be giving up a significant amount of storage space to rip out the cabinets to put in a second dishwasher.

I’m not the OP, but there are a few options. First, there is the space all your dishes take up. If you have another dishwasher, then they don’t fill up your cabinets, so net net, it’s the same amount of space.

Secondly, there are drawer-typ dishwashers made specifically for this. They are way overpriced, but are really useful and pretty darn small. One or two of those and you really don’t need to put dishes away anymore.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#88
post #84
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Am I the only one that washes dishes immediately after use? No need to even use the machine. Wash immediately after use, let them dry on rack, wipe and put away. Dishes and laundry are a total non-issue.

Have a family of 7 and get back to me on that one. Edit: not trying to be snarky but a use case for a single person or small family breaks down quickly when you have young kids and have special diets(that require an entirely different set of dishes) then you can see where automation is useful.

A family with any kids such that you're going through the bedtime routine after dinner, then exhausted and forget/avoid the dishes.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That stupid laundry folding robot was there. They had a "show" every 15 minutes or so where they would pick a person from the audience to stuff clothes into the machine and have them not folded (the demo machine only had the loader). I didn't see the crashed companion robots. They were working when I walked by, but I didn't pay them much mind because I thought they were stupid. There were also a number of advertising…

The companion robots were there last year too (in Sands IIRC). They were also working when I passed them .. singing a creepy old McDonald had a farm. I spoke to a rep and she said kids can get rough with these things so they are targeting seniors. Yeah.. I dunno about this one. Cruzr was a big robot from a Shenzen company. I really liked it. I have seen Jibo in action .. the Cruzr I saw had a personality that surpise…

That table tennis robot looked like it cost a million bucks.

I will say that VR was kind of absent last year and was absolutely everywhere this year. It still feels like we need a couple of years before the VR stuff is fully baked though.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#90
post #5

Here's what I want robots to do: 1) Wash my dishes, dry them and put them away completely automatically. 2) Wash and dry my clothes, fold them and put them away completely automatically. These two things would save me hours of work per week. FoldiMate simply isn't even close to being good enough, but I'd be willing to spend about that much for a robot that could do #2. I can vacuum my floor by myself and greet people…

There’s an easy way to cut down on laundry - wear your clothes multiple times between cleanings.... honestly I usually wear jeans 2-3 days between washes. Everything else is single day only... except when I go backpacking and then wear the same thing for a week straight. The smell is... complex.
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