This is what you get when you can borrow money for zero or negative interest rates for ten years, and every "investment" looks like gold. Thanks Uncles Bernanke/Draghi/Kuroda.
I shudder to think what the next crash is gonna look like.
CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work
111–120 of 474 posts
Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work
#112Here'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…
http://tuneofthetimes.blogspot.com/2010/02/i-dream-of-jetson...
Wrote about this exactly several years ago, nothing has changed really
Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
That first recommendation is pure genius!
I saw it done with a stacked pair of dishwasher drawers (e.g.: https://www.remodelista.com/posts/appliances-dishwasher-draw... ) in a small apartment in Switzerland recently, with "clean" and "dirty" magnets that got swapped around -- there was no other dish storage. Pretty great. My other favorite is the Italian dish drainer (a few examples here: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/759138080911631519 ) -- basically the ca…
The drying cabinet is actually a Finnish invention [1] (although apparently preceded by a US patent that never took off). It was popular in Scandinavia for a while, and you still come across homes from the 50-60s that have them, but they're no longer popular now that most people have automatic dishwashers. My family has a mountain cabin in Norway, built in the 1950s with no dishwasher, that have these, and they're very handy.
Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work
#114Here'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 understand and agree with these desires. However, getting fewer and simpler clothes can near solve the second problem for much cheaper. Similarly, eating out comes close to solving the first problem. Will be very cost competitive with robots for the same in the foreseeable future. To the point that solving this problem will require more behavior change from us than we're likely to realize.
You know some people have to wear uniforms, right?
You know some people have occupations where you get really dirty, right?
You know some people have to "dress to impress" for work, right?
Not everyone can move to "simple" clothes so easily, including most people who are employed.
Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work
#115Earlier 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.
Have a family of 7 and get back to me on that one. Edit: not trying to be snarky but a use case for a single person or small family breaks down quickly when you have young kids and have special diets(that require an entirely different set of dishes) then you can see where automation is useful.
With a family of 7 you're likely to have at least 1 or 2 kids old enough to be your robot for pocket money.
Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work
#116Here'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…
If the sky's the limit, I'd like kiva for my home. Maybe a dumb waiter would open in the wall with a little standard sized basket. I'd name what I'm storing, like tennis racket or snow shoes, and it would whisk it away to a storage space under the house or in the walls somewhere. I ask for it by name, the house brings it back to the portal. An uncluttered house where I can have anything I use once a year within secon…
Not an appliance, but there are a bunch of "valet storage" services like this. In NYC there's MakeSpace, which takes photos of your stuff that you can use to request delivery, should you need a particular item. They photograph and deliver the whole box, though, as far as I remember, not individual items.
Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
That first recommendation is pure genius!
There exist single dishwashers that provide this capability, and they may suffice depending on your dishwashing needs and average load. 1: https://www.fisherpaykel.com/us/kitchen/dish-washers/dishdra...
I recently bought an apartment after having rented a place with these drawer dishwashers.
I considered it a non-negotiable to never live with them again if given the choice. The small ones just aren't practical if you cook. Put on some rice, boil some veggies, fry up some meat, and suddenly you're already out of room. You've not done cutlery, breakfast, lunch or desert. And god help you if you cook anything more complicated than that...
Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work
#118Here'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…
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 item, and then feed it into the machine, and right there it cleans and done.
Within the machine, it can queue up a small amount of each item internally (in case you have more than one item), and then washes, rinses, and quickly spin or air dries each item, one at a time (or maybe for silverware, in small batches).
Lastly, it spits out the clean items either completely (or mostly) dry at the end of the process.
This way, you can own less dishes overall (because you wash/dry them instantly), and you get all the hard work mostly done. Maintenance would be mostly keeping it loaded with soap/cleaner, and making sure food waste doesn't clog it.
If you could pull that off and make it reasonably water and energy efficient... I think that would make a lot of people happy, self included! Not sure if washing things piecemeal can be made water and energy efficient though.
Some days I wish I regret not having more hardware/mechanical/electrical engineering experience!
Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have a family of 7 and get back to me on that one. Edit: not trying to be snarky but a use case for a single person or small family breaks down quickly when you have young kids and have special diets(that require an entirely different set of dishes) then you can see where automation is useful.
On the other hand, according to the US census, as of 2016 the number of households with 7 or more family members is 1.27% while the number of households with 1 family member is 28.13%. If we take into account the households with 3 or fewer family members we are talking over 75% of the US. I think it is completely reasonable not to consider your circumstance when giving general advice. The vast majority of people can…
And how about the purchasing power of a family of 1?
Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work
#120What was your favorite product at CES ?
One thing I'd thought about for years finally appeared at CES. They had a mister you attach to the outside unit of your heat pump. It included the deionizer/water softener to prevent the minerals from building up on your A/C. But then the company ruined it by selling it only as a $100/year service.
I bought a pair of those several years ago. It worked for about a year and then broke down. I tried to sell the remaining unit for 90% off on craigslist, and there were no takers. It was the kickstarter version 1.0 of this: