CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work • Hacker News Board

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

#211

Post by dsnuh » Mon, Jan 15, 2018, 7:30 AM UTC

BigJono wrote: post #197

dsnuh wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like the solution to these problems might be to use something like rapid 3D printing technology to create and recycle the dishes or clothing. The dish machine would print using a biodegradable material that could either be recycled back into the machine for reprinting or composted if it is unable to be cleaned. For clothing I imagine a knitting machine that prints 3D garments on demand using fibers and can als…

We could always just move the goalposts a bit. I don't need my clothes folded, I'd be over the moon with a robot that can wash and dry my clothes, then spread them loosely and haphazardly over a "clothes shelf" or something, just spread out enough that I can pick what I need out of the pile without rummaging.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I don't need Rosie The Robot, maybe just a nifty conveyor belt system or something.

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

#212

Post by lsc » Mon, Jan 15, 2018, 7:33 AM UTC

CapitalistCartr wrote: post #9

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…

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.

In silicon valley, at least, a maid service that comes once a week is going to be north of USD$100/wk, and most of them say they don't do laundry for some reason, (though they can be talked into it) so a machine that could do what a weekly cleaning person could do could be pretty expensive and still be worth it.

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

#213

Post by duncanawoods » Mon, Jan 15, 2018, 7:36 AM UTC

intrasight wrote: post #191

flukus wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? Personally I'm hoping for some kind of telescopic arm in the ceiling, bipedal robots still take up storage space and get in the way, ceiling arms could work around me, are probably easier to deliver and are probably better to interact with "hey arm, can you give me a reading light and put my book away when I fall asleep".

When I was a young robotics engineer, I designed a house with a hidden ceiling that hid the mechanical parts for such a robot. There were 4'x4' panels with releases and actuators to open up a hole for the arm to descend through. A 28'x28' space would only need 10 actuators (edge panels can't open). But alas 30 years later I've still not built it.

25 years ago, in a high school English exam, I wrote a short story about just such a design. As is the way of such stories, the arm throttled a small child after a miscommunication! I was a little bothered that I might have unconsciously cribbed it from Asimov that I read at that age. Mechanical ceiling arms seem likely to be terrifying even if they work.

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

#214

Post by chesimov » Mon, Jan 15, 2018, 7:37 AM UTC

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?

Have a margin - somewhat more bowls and plates than you actually need.

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

#215

Post by iandanforth » Mon, Jan 15, 2018, 7:39 AM UTC

AdamJacobMuller wrote: post #176

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…

> FoldiMate Is this a joke? A machine that, when you take a piece of laundry and after de-tangling each piece (fixing inside-out/sleeves/etc) and then orienting it properly, insert it into the machine in a specific way, will fold laundry in "a few" minutes. All this for the low price of $1,000 USD and they claim to deliver in two years (which we all know will slip). If this machine let me dump a dry bucket of laundry…

I know the guy behind FoldiMate a little bit. I've met him at trade shows. One thing I have to point out is that he has pursued this dream for years. Lack of interest, team, funding ... nothing has stopped this guy. It's a really hard problem and he keeps at it. I can't say I'm rushing out to buy one myself, but there's a human story here too, and I think that's been lost in the coverage.

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

#216

Post by sundvor » Mon, Jan 15, 2018, 7:42 AM UTC

bigiain wrote: post #202

BigJono wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'…

Had my Roomba 780 for five years and the lifting handle broke a few weeks prior to the 5y warranty expiry.

I got it dirt cheap using a price match, included 5y warranty. Will see if they replace or fix it... But overall very happy with my purchase.

Replaced the battery once with a higher capacity one; does a great job, can go for hours, always love the result. Bit noisy, so best to run when out.

You have to look after it by cleaning the rollers and dust bin etc, but yeah, it's a very solid build.

Mate has the new one and it creates a spookily accurate floorplan. Pretty cool to see the advancements made.

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

#217

Post by jeisc » Mon, Jan 15, 2018, 7:43 AM UTC

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…

I want to put my dirty clothes in the hamper in the morning; and when I get home at night, they folded and pressed and placed in their proper place. In that way I could have so few garments which would reduce consumerism.

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

#218

Post by gajomi » Mon, Jan 15, 2018, 7:45 AM UTC

iandanforth wrote: post #215

AdamJacobMuller wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> FoldiMate Is this a joke? A machine that, when you take a piece of laundry and after de-tangling each piece (fixing inside-out/sleeves/etc) and then orienting it properly, insert it into the machine in a specific way, will fold laundry in "a few" minutes. All this for the low price of $1,000 USD and they claim to deliver in two years (which we all know will slip). If this machine let me dump a dry bucket of laundry…

I know the guy behind FoldiMate a little bit. I've met him at trade shows. One thing I have to point out is that he has pursued this dream for years. Lack of interest, team, funding ... nothing has stopped this guy. It's a really hard problem and he keeps at it. I can't say I'm rushing out to buy one myself, but there's a human story here too, and I think that's been lost in the coverage.

This makes me think... are there any special circumstances in which clothes need to be folded in such a special way and with sufficiently high throughput that this kind of machine could make headway? Oftentimes general purpose technologies can come to market only after predecessors in niche areas.

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

#219

Post by ueiej99jej » Mon, Jan 15, 2018, 7:49 AM UTC

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…

Folded clothing!

What will they think of next

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

#220

Post by abalashov » Mon, Jan 15, 2018, 7:51 AM UTC

I have never been to and didn't follow CES, but the little I learned about this one just made me depressed about our civilisational priorities: an unimaginably gargantuan space of Chinese electronic junk largely devoted to servicing the whims of pampered and effete digiratti, all of which will be obsolete, discarded and piling up in landfills a mere few years after it's taken to market. I got about 30 seconds into the news clip about the highlights and had to turn it off.