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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

#201

Post by taspeotis »

BigJono wrote: post #196
bigiain wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I move my vacuum robot up and down stairs as needed. I'm not _quite_ lazy enough to buy a second one for upstairs (but I _have_ considered it, I use an inexpensive Chinese knockoff, not a brand-name-priced Roomba...)

Are the Chinese knock-offs any good? I just looked up the price of a Roomba. $600 AUD to start for the shittiest model :(

There are a few people at my workplace that swear by this guy [1]. Last time I checked you had to jump through some hoops to get the app to render in English, but there are YouTube tutorials to walk you through it.

[1] https://www.productreview.com.au/p/xiaomi-mi-robot-vacuum.ht...

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

#202

Post by bigiain »

BigJono wrote: post #196
bigiain wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I move my vacuum robot up and down stairs as needed. I'm not _quite_ lazy enough to buy a second one for upstairs (but I _have_ considered it, I use an inexpensive Chinese knockoff, not a brand-name-priced Roomba...)

Are the Chinese knock-offs any good? I just looked up the price of a Roomba. $600 AUD to start for the shittiest model :(

I grabbed an iLife brand one from (I think) gearBest on special for ~$176AUD delivered (from memory as an impulse buy while shopping for quadcopter parts...)

This one: https://www.gearbest.com/smart-home/pp_187246.html

Turns out it's a few weeks short of 2 years old now, and it's still going strong. (It's kinda slow to charge, but at least thats kind to the batteries.)

It works fine for me - and I've had friends who've got real Roombas who say theirs doesn't work as well. I _think_ you sometimes get lucky with the wheels/traction and your particular carpet - mine does it's least-good job in the most rarely used room (spare bedroom) where the carpet is fluffier. It occasionally gets "trapped" in there. But I probably wouldn't have ever pulled the trigger at a $600 pricepoint.

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

#203

Post by wirelessest »

BigJono wrote: post #196
bigiain wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I move my vacuum robot up and down stairs as needed. I'm not _quite_ lazy enough to buy a second one for upstairs (but I _have_ considered it, I use an inexpensive Chinese knockoff, not a brand-name-priced Roomba...)

Are the Chinese knock-offs any good? I just looked up the price of a Roomba. $600 AUD to start for the shittiest model :(

Don't know about the knock-offs. But Ecovacs makes a line of roomba competitors that match up as well or better and cost 75% as much.

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

#204

Post by fulafel »

mikekchar wrote: post #94
mahmud wrote: 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.

Edit: Interesting to see this get voted up and down. I suppose because it appears to have a holier-than-thou tone. I don't really feel that way because I struggled to learn this stuff the hard way. I'm just hopeful someone will feel encouraged to try it. Not the only one. Admittedly I don't have kids, but I'm familiar with family life and I don't think this is really that much of a problem. I think a lot of people su…

This "wash dishes during cooking and after eating" recipe sounds like just washing in two batches, interrupted by eating. The post-meal dishes will include many of the cooking pots/bowls/cutting boards, because you served the food from them. And many people like to kick back after dinner or go to work after breakfast, not jump right into dishwashing.

The extra "during cooking" dishwashing steps of intermediate pots, knives, cutting boards, grating boards, and other intermediate cooking tools & pots, blender parts etc may satisfy a sense of order in the kitchen but it's but that's not enough to sway most people over.

And now the dishwasher feels like a good idea again. And you can accumulate dishes in it all day, so it also handles the between meals glasses, coffee mugs, french presses, sandwich making dishes etc.

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

#205

Post by 6nf »

Joeri wrote: post #162
sixdimensional wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I recently rented a house for NYE with a very nice kitchen. It had FOUR drawer style dishwashers! I imagine this is what the owners do all the time.

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

#206

Post by ipince »

jcoffland wrote: post #172
Joeri wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What do you do if you've used all of your bowls but none of your plates?

Wash the clean plates?

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

#207

Post by distances »

bigiain wrote: post #178
Merad wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can vacuum my floor by myself If you're in the HN demographic that likes to live in small urban apartments then you may not see value in automated vacuuming, but believe me they are filling a need for many people. My 68 year old mom decided to get one last year, prompted by discussions with several of her friends. She loves it so much that she's become something of a Roomba evangelical - last I checked she's talk…

I get a real kick out of getting home after the vacuuming robot has been doing my housework while I'm out :-) I'd love a similarly simple way to press a button and have my laundry done - I've seen combined washer/dryers, but I'd love something that sorted and folded everything for me... (Interestingly, I live alone, and do not have any motivation to buy a dishwasher.)

That's interesting. I feel dishwasher is one of the easiest life improvement purchases. Will depend quite a bit on how much you cook I suppose.

I would've gotten a robot vacuum ages ago too but my place has quite high doorsills, I don't think there's a device that could climb those.

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

#208

Post by d_burfoot »

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…

> Wash my dishes, dry them and put them away completely automatically.

Here's the solution:

1. Get a 2nd dishwasher.

2. Get two placards, one that says "clean" and the other that says "dirty". Affix one to each washer.

3. When you need a dish, take it from the washer with the "clean" placard. When you're done with it, put it in the washer marked "dirty".

4. When the dirty washer is full and the clean washer is empty, run the dirty washer and swap the placards.

Voila! Now you never have to waste any time putting away your dishes.

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

#209

Post by pitaj »

erik_landerholm wrote: post #106

Don’t care! It’s the golden age of tvs! Oleds are a technology that’s actually living up to the hype. I have an lg wallpaper tv and you can roll it up! The new ones look even more flexible. One even rolls up into a box. Robots will catch up. The future of TVs is now!

I want my OLED monitors. I've been waiting for years for an OLED monitor, it's my dream. The closest thing is VA+Quantum Dot monitors, but they just aren't the same.

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

#210

Post by newman8r »

d_burfoot wrote: post #208
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…

> Wash my dishes, dry them and put them away completely automatically. Here's the solution: 1. Get a 2nd dishwasher. 2. Get two placards, one that says "clean" and the other that says "dirty". Affix one to each washer. 3. When you need a dish, take it from the washer with the "clean" placard. When you're done with it, put it in the washer marked "dirty". 4. When the dirty washer is full and the clean washer is empty,…

this reminds me of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox,_goose_and_bag_of_beans_pu...
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