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Everyday robots are slowly leaving the lab

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Re: Everyday robots are slowly leaving the lab

#41

Post by ModernMech »

rvz wrote: post #2

Shit just got real.

I mean, this is demonstrating things the now dead PR2 demonstrated a decade ago, and even then it was nothing new. Since then there have been a string of startups just like this one that have come and gone.

This one comes to mind:

https://singularityhub.com/2013/10/24/willow-garage-spinoff-...

Also:

https://robots.ieee.org/robots/baxter/

These people sell robots that are in stores now:

https://www.badger-technologies.com

We'll see if something with an arm has as much success, but so far not much as evidenced by the graveyard of companies that have been trying. One will crack the code soon, maybe this one.

Re: Everyday robots are slowly leaving the lab

#42

Post by amelius »

lnsru wrote: post #22

I wish, we will not create world with robots as shown in movie Elysium. I wish we could create a world with universal basic income where warehouse slaves are replaced with robots and people can do something better than picking orders in constant fear of being too slow.

Sadly, unlike technology our social structures will never advance.

Re: Everyday robots are slowly leaving the lab

#43

Post by danpalmer »

amelius wrote: post #36
epberry wrote: post #6

How can you not think this is great? Freeing humans from menial tasks is the way forward. Remember when people (mostly women) would spend hours washing? Machines and automation freed them.

Since automation, almost everything has become lower quality. There's a reason why "handmade" is better.

My washing machine does a lot better job than I could. My oven is much more reliable at heating than I am at building campfires. My computer is much quicker at maths than I am. My TV is cheaper than going to the theatre.

Automation is great when it works well, we just forget about it when it does, so we generally only recognise the bad.

Re: Everyday robots are slowly leaving the lab

#44

Post by daniel-cussen »

joey_bob wrote: post #16
howaboutnope wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If machines produce everything we need, the outcome will depend on how things are distributed. Everyone can enjoy a life of luxurious leisure if the machine-produced wealth is shared, or most people can end up miserably poor if the machine-owners successfully lobby against wealth redistribution. So far, the trend seems to be toward the second option, with technology driving ever-increasing inequality. -- Stephen Ha…

From the quote, I read: "most people can end up miserably poor" == "ever-increasing inequality" Which begs the question - is the misery of poverty due to the lack of access to important goods or services, or because of the relative wealth standing?

Lack of being needed.

Re: Everyday robots are slowly leaving the lab

#45

Post by ehnto »

wpietri wrote: post #39
TheBlight wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UBI and full automation sounds nice but it leaves you with no leverage. You will end up relying completely on the compassion of your rulers.

Not sure why you're getting downvoted. It's a real risk. For example, Saudi Arabia, which practices UBI [1] and otherwise transfers a lot of oil wealth to citizens, also is pretty low down on ratings of citizen freedom. [2] Many observers see it as Saudi royalty buying political compliance. Given that the US is now on the list of backsliding democracies [3], and given the era in US politics where government money was…

Through this lens I'm kind of surprised it's not a more popular policy, I'd never thought about it like this.

Re: Everyday robots are slowly leaving the lab

#46

Post by amelius »

danpalmer wrote: post #43
amelius wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since automation, almost everything has become lower quality. There's a reason why "handmade" is better.

My washing machine does a lot better job than I could. My oven is much more reliable at heating than I am at building campfires. My computer is much quicker at maths than I am. My TV is cheaper than going to the theatre. Automation is great when it works well, we just forget about it when it does, so we generally only recognise the bad.

Perhaps, but your dishwasher is probably not be better than a person dedicated to washing dishes.

My dishwasher often leaves dirty spots and stripes, which would easily be noticed and removed by a dedicated person.

Re: Everyday robots are slowly leaving the lab

#47

Post by wpietri »

ModernMech wrote: post #29
toisanji wrote: post #21

the problem with all of these robots is that they can't go where humans go. Humans and animals can basically travel on any terrain. they have to be on flat surfaces and so the floors need to be made for them. That means they can't go on stairs, uneven surfaces, dirt, grass, docks, rocky surfaces, etc. If this is solved, it opens up so many more opportunities.

That's why you start with indoor robots. Because of the ADA, they should be able to go anywhere that a person with a wheelchair can go... which is pretty much all the places in our public life. Yes, they won't go off-roading, but that's okay as a starting point.

For sure. And the other solution is facilities built for machinery first, not humans. As an example, pretty much any factory floor is designed on this principle.

The interesting question to me is how much household design will shift. Both the rise of the automobile and the decline of household servants have shifted architecture.

Re: Everyday robots are slowly leaving the lab

#48

Post by guerrilla »

epberry wrote: post #6

How can you not think this is great? Freeing humans from menial tasks is the way forward. Remember when people (mostly women) would spend hours washing? Machines and automation freed them.

It really depends on who owns the robots. As it is now, the richer you are the more robots you'll be able to afford and the less labor you'll need. When labor isn't in demand anymore and most people don't have robots, then most people won't have income anymore, forcing them into poverty and revolution. Robot police and military could make successful revolution impossible.

Re: Everyday robots are slowly leaving the lab

#49

Post by deadbunny »

joey_bob wrote: post #16
howaboutnope wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If machines produce everything we need, the outcome will depend on how things are distributed. Everyone can enjoy a life of luxurious leisure if the machine-produced wealth is shared, or most people can end up miserably poor if the machine-owners successfully lobby against wealth redistribution. So far, the trend seems to be toward the second option, with technology driving ever-increasing inequality. -- Stephen Ha…

From the quote, I read: "most people can end up miserably poor" == "ever-increasing inequality" Which begs the question - is the misery of poverty due to the lack of access to important goods or services, or because of the relative wealth standing?

Poor people can't afford to live. This leads to all kinds of shit we should have -as a species - eliminated decades ago; kids with Rickets, parents that skip meals so their kids can eat, foregoing heating so they can eat, working 3 jobs just to pay the rent, having zero healthcare. And that's just in developed countries.

Poor people don't care that they will never own a Ferrari (or even a car newer than 15 years old, ever). They care about the basics, food, water, shelter.

Once we don't have people in developed (and undeveloped) countries living without adequate food or being one bad week or accident away from homelessness we can come back to see if they are just simply jealous.

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