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

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

#161

Post by jamesvandyne »

yorwba wrote: post #123
gruez wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's not IOT.

How do you know? There needs to be some kind of connection for remote programmability. The default choice is likely something connected to the (W)LAN. From there, it's only one misconfigured firewall and a default password away from being hacked over the internet.

They're not. They've been around longer than WiFi. It's a simple wired connection to the control panel in the tub that's installed as a single unit.

It let's you control things like temp, intercom to the kitchen and so forth. Automatic Bath one of my favorite things about living in Japan, even more so than the heated toilet seat.

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

#162

Post by Joeri »

sixdimensional wrote: post #118
bane wrote: 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…

Actually, I'm not a product designer or engineer, but I feel like I have an idea for #1, and I'm interested in doing it, even for myself. Maybe it's something like "dishwasher v2.0", I 'm not sure. I basically want a standard set of plates, bowls, cups and silverware, which is designed to work with an automated washing box that has slots (or maybe holders) for each to be deposited inside. The idea is, you use the ite…

One life hack I’ve seen and always wondered about that gets you close is having two dish washers and using them as your cupboard. You use stuff from the clean one and put away into the dirty one. Once the dirty one is full, run it and switch directions.

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

#163

Post by ChuckMcM »

bane wrote: 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…

A number of people have done dual dish drawer washing machines for #1. Basically you have two half height dishwashers in the drawer format. On has clean dishes the other has dirty. You move dishes from the clean side until you fill up the dirty side then you run it and it becomes the new clean side. Edge cases remain out of reach (if your kids only dirty butter knives and spoons for example).

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

#164

Post by toomanybeersies »

fyfy18 wrote: post #154
torpfactory wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It’s also worth looking at what materials you are buying. Typically clothes made from natural fibres breath better, which reduces moisture and odors. Merino wool is especially good for this, so you can wear it longer between washes.

I've gone several years without washing merino wool clothing. You just need to air it out after use.

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

#165

Post by ThatGeoGuy »

cdoxsey wrote: post #137

The next 20 years will be a constant stream of half broken robots and ai systems. At least until we either get them to actually work or we figure out how bad they are and go back to using people again. It will be like setting up video conferencing, except for everything. Your car will go to the wrong place because it failed to account for a leap second, thus breaking gps. Your fridge will put itself in eco mode becau…

> Your car will go to the wrong place because it failed to account for a leap second, thus breaking gps.

I do get the implication you're going for, but GPS actually ignores leap seconds for this reason. The time scale on the GPS system was fixed when it was deployed, and is 18 seconds ahead of UTC because it does not account for leap seconds.

Sometimes we design horrid systems that are harder to use than analog counterparts. Sometimes, our systems work because they required a lot of thought to go into them. AI hell is more likely to be a problem of decision trees than it is going to be anything to do with sensor disruption or time offsets.

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

#166

Post by toomanybeersies »

raitom wrote: post #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.

I've seen bathtub auto fillers before, but not ones that you could control from the kitchen.

They're a pretty simple concept, either have a flowmeter on the faucet, or have a water level meter to detect how high the water level is, and turn the faucet off after a certain volume.

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

#167

Post by semi-extrinsic »

lev99 wrote: post #22
beaconstudios wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

for 1, a dishwasher covers (wash) and in some cases (dry) - the putting away is the least time-consuming step so I'm not convinced a robot would be a massive innovation over dishwashers unless it also collected not-in-use washables but that's robot butler levels of complexity. for 2, I don't know about the US but in the UK you can get small local companies that will wash and iron a sack of laundry for you, and return…

2. In the US it would cost at least $400/yr per person for a pickup/drop off laundry service. Foldimate sells for $850, and can presumably service an entire household. If it was more capable (just put clean clothes in a hopper, or connects directly to a dryer) it would be significantly more economic then human labor.

If the Foldimate was more capable, the laundry services would start using them and their prices would drop accordingly, no?

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

#168

Post by mikekchar »

Tyrek wrote: post #145
uxp wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the purchasing power of a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children) any higher than someone living alone, specifically when talking about purchasing home appliances? I mean occasionally my wife and I will both purchase bread on the way home resulting in us having a lot of bread, but I can't think of a time we both accidentally bought a refrigerator or oven on the same weekend.

Well, a decent chunk of people living alone are probably renting, so that changes the whole appliance-purchasing dynamics already, but to directly answer your question - yes? The increasingly common dual income family has more income than a single person, and furthermore benefits from the ability to share certain costs efficiently - how would that not result in higher purchasing power?

Statistics for disposable income by family size is hard to get (I don't think the US census measures that). My gut feeling is that dual income, no kids families are going to be at the very top because not only are kids incredibly expensive, but not having kids means that you can concentrate on work. Having said that, family size will also skew around age so it's really hard to say. I'll just say that I've never met a family with kids that isn't concerned about money.

But even having more money, will people buy robot appliances? Again, my gut feeling is that singles are actually more likely to buy things like that because the downside of making an ineffective purchase is dramatically lower.

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

#170

Post by semi-extrinsic »

torpfactory wrote: post #90
bane wrote: 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.

When you go on long hikes, you bring two boxer shorts: one that you wear the entire time, then on the last evening before returning to civilization, you burn it in the campfire and put on the clean one.
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