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

venturebeat.com

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

#61

Post by TeMPOraL »

suby wrote: post #52
reizorc wrote: post #40

I really wish they'd make tree planting robots

I have to imagine that blanketing an area with seeds dropped from a flying drone would be far more effective than a ground based robot which planted trees. Obviously the success rate of a ground based robot would be far higher, but I think we'd be better off going for quantity over quality. If that assumption is true, then we already have the tech to do this.

I recall when HN was discussing dropping seeds from an AC-130 few years ago, someone pointed out that it would be much more cost-effective to just hire locals to do it by hand. The same will probably apply to drone-planters.

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

#62

Post by boromi »

throwawaygh wrote: post #14
Waterluvian wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. But the bewilderment isn’t a technical one, it’s a business one. You’d think 30 years of unprofitable future tech would happen at a university or the military or some skunkworks operation for a massive company. Though I’m sure quite a bit of their funding is military.

Boston dynamics has been all 3 of those... currently a skunkworks

why? what's happening that makes you say that

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

#63

Post by WhompingWindows »

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.

They're basically a research and development firm. How many research teams do you know that are actually "profitable"? Money goes into research because it may pay dividends in a few decades, not because it's profitable in the first couple of decades.

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

#64

Post by RandallBrown »

suby wrote: post #52
reizorc wrote: post #40

I really wish they'd make tree planting robots

I have to imagine that blanketing an area with seeds dropped from a flying drone would be far more effective than a ground based robot which planted trees. Obviously the success rate of a ground based robot would be far higher, but I think we'd be better off going for quantity over quality. If that assumption is true, then we already have the tech to do this.

There are a few startups working on this. DroneSeed is the one I'm most familiar with.

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

#65

Post by guerrilla »

tomp wrote: post #27
eyeball wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

So? Better than using tanks! The solution to police/state violence is political, not (anti-)technological.

> Better than using tanks!

In what way is it better? The results seem identical and processes sufficiently similar to be isomorphic.

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

#66

Post by toyg »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #61
suby wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to imagine that blanketing an area with seeds dropped from a flying drone would be far more effective than a ground based robot which planted trees. Obviously the success rate of a ground based robot would be far higher, but I think we'd be better off going for quantity over quality. If that assumption is true, then we already have the tech to do this.

I recall when HN was discussing dropping seeds from an AC-130 few years ago, someone pointed out that it would be much more cost-effective to just hire locals to do it by hand . The same will probably apply to drone-planters.

Not even "locals" - depending on location, you could bus in (or even fly in) masses of low-paid low-skill workers from somewhere else, like it happens for other agri tasks.

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

#67

Post by [deleted] »

tokai wrote: post #31
AniseAbyss wrote: post #28

Its not really an issue for the US but in Europe the population is aging. That leaves Africa or robots. Companies like Boston Dynamics will be very profitable indeed in the next decades.

>not really an issue for the US You got a source for that? The communications from the us census bureau seems to disagree. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2018/cb18-41-...

[deleted]

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

#69

Post by postingawayonhn »

peteradio wrote: post #59
reizorc wrote: post #40

I really wish they'd make tree planting robots

We have tractors already optimized for such things. You want 10000 trees planted in an hour? You had that tech about 60 years ago!

Depends on the terrain. A lot of forestry land is on hillsides that are unsuitable for farming and are therefore difficult for tractors to access.

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

#70

Post by leereeves »

tokai wrote: post #31
AniseAbyss wrote: post #28

Its not really an issue for the US but in Europe the population is aging. That leaves Africa or robots. Companies like Boston Dynamics will be very profitable indeed in the next decades.

>not really an issue for the US You got a source for that? The communications from the us census bureau seems to disagree. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2018/cb18-41-...

It's somewhat less of an issue for the US.

The median age in the EU is 43, vs 38 in the US, and 30 worldwide.

And the median age in Germany is nearly as high as in Japan, which is famous for its aging population.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_median_ag...

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