Boston Dynamics CEO talks profitability and the company’s next robots

cobookman wrote: post #4

Boston Dynamics was founded in 1992. That was almost 30 years ago. Just me, or is it crazy they haven't had 1 year of profitability in nearly 3 decades of operations.

And people claim the markets/VCs are too short-termist. If anything, the opposite is true.

Re: Boston Dynamics CEO talks profitability and the company’s next robots

#6

Post by bamboozled » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 4:49 AM UTC

Is it just me or is the next robot already a drone?

Why walk when you can fly?

Re: Boston Dynamics CEO talks profitability and the company’s next robots

#7

Post by accurrent » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 4:51 AM UTC

bamboozled wrote: post #6

Is it just me or is the next robot already a drone? Why walk when you can fly?

Drones run out of battery and have huge spinning blades that can take out somebody's eye. They might on occasion also fall out of the sky.

Re: Boston Dynamics CEO talks profitability and the company’s next robots

#8

Post by accurrent » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 4:55 AM UTC

cobookman wrote: post #4

Boston Dynamics was founded in 1992. That was almost 30 years ago. Just me, or is it crazy they haven't had 1 year of profitability in nearly 3 decades of operations.

As someone who is in the field of mobile robotics, what Boston Dynamics does is often way ahead of its time. Robotics is hard and expensive. If you are developing a new form of locomotion it will take years and millions of dollars before things work out. Heck, I myself have seen my colleagues spend 10+ years just ironing out issues with underwater vehicles before they even see the market.

Re: Boston Dynamics CEO talks profitability and the company’s next robots

#9

Post by jakear » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 5:08 AM UTC

eyeball wrote: post #3

unixhero wrote: post #2

I actually wosh they would stop.

Cops will be using these to crush protestors in 10 years.

And the engineers involved will have had no idea such a thing would happen. After all, they only had the best of intentions, right? And if they didn’t do it someone else would have, right?

Re: Boston Dynamics CEO talks profitability and the company’s next robots

#10

Post by taneq » Wed, Sep 16, 2020, 5:10 AM UTC

bamboozled wrote: post #6

Is it just me or is the next robot already a drone? Why walk when you can fly?

Maybe because you want a robot with more than 30 minutes' autonomy?

Wheels (if practical) are best. Then legs (or wheel/leg hybrids). Then fixed wing (if you have somewhere you can take off and land). Multirotors are easy and fun but only practical for short missions.