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Apple explores home robotics as potential 'next big thing'

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Re: Apple explores home robotics as potential 'next big thing'

#121

Post by PopePompus »

jdlshore wrote: post #111
PopePompus wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps the entire kitchen sink could be redesigned with robotic dish washing in mind. No bipedal Boston Dynamics style robot washing your dishes and taking out the trash - just two arms built into the sink with automated drains and soap dispensing to wash dishes, put them in a rack, and do nothing else. I'd pay quite a bit for that.

How is that different than a dishwasher? The problem is collecting the dishes and putting them away, not washing them. Unless you’re imagining something to scrub pots and pans?

I think that in reality, most people do a very light pre-wash of many dishes, before loading them into the dishwasher. I know I do. I'd be happier if I could just stick the plates in the sink, and come back an hour later to find the dishes, pots, pans and utensils drying in a rack.

Re: Apple explores home robotics as potential 'next big thing'

#122

Post by npunt »

dwaite wrote: post #103
npunt wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing about Apple is things can make sense for them to explore that don't make sense for others to. They have a big enough ecosystem, enough cash to do R&D on an idea for decades , and a culture of killing things that aren't good enough that make them an ideal place to determine whether ideas are a conceptual dead end versus just haven't been executed well enough (or tied to the right ecosystem to make them work)…

> One thing about Apple is things can make sense for them to explore that don't make sense for others to. They have a big enough ecosystem, enough cash to do R&D on an idea for decades, and a culture of killing things that aren't good enough that make them an ideal place to determine whether ideas are a conceptual dead end versus just haven't been executed well enough (or tied to the right ecosystem to make them work…

Agree foldables are a good way to do product discovery!

Yeah small M&A is great for advancing/derisking R&D for a given part or tech. They also embed / work closely with manufacturing partners. Nevertheless they're also doing a lot on their own R&D work; a bunch of Vision Pro stuff is homegrown and there's always new potential techs we never see that show up in patent applications showing their R&D is moving along at a healthy clip, e.g. this radar based tracking system from two days ago [1].

I think folks like Google and Meta talk a lot more about their R&D where Apple is very tight lipped, since part of Apple's magic is the part of R&D that's figuring out how to take janky half-working parts, polish them relentlessly, and combine the right ones together into something that makes sense as a product.

[1] https://www.patentlyapple.com/2024/04/apple-wins-patent-for-...

Re: Apple explores home robotics as potential 'next big thing'

#123

Post by 1-6 »

woah wrote: post #33

> Near its campus in Cupertino, California, Apple has a secret facility that resembles the inside of a house — a site where it can test future devices and initiatives for the home. Apple has a condo in Cupertino?

They even have a small medical facility.

Re: Apple explores home robotics as potential 'next big thing'

#124

Post by bombcar »

newhotelowner wrote: post #17

I want something that cleans my bathroom and toilet. I will buy it for my business and will pay 20-30k/year. Also, something to Clean my dishes (Load in the dishwasher, turn it on, and put it away). Doing my laundry - load, wash and fold. Mow the lawn.

Make your bathroom entirely waterproof and add a drain and high pressure sprinklers. Done.

Re: Apple explores home robotics as potential 'next big thing'

#125

Post by duped »

PopePompus wrote: post #108
duped wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maids will be cheaper than robots for at least a decade

I don't want to pay someone to clean up my messes. That is not the kind of relationship I want to have with another human. But I'd happily pay for a machine that did it.

I understand that this is coming from a place of privilege, but I was raised with regular maid service cleaning our home as a child and it's just something you learn to live with. You pick up after yourself for the easy things like throwing out garbage and picking up your clothes on the floor so the maids can do the heavy work like deep cleaning everything that's not in the way. And it's not necessarily unaffordable for biweekly cleaning.

You don't hire a maid service to clean up after you, you do it because they do a better job at all the stuff you really don't want to.

Re: Apple explores home robotics as potential 'next big thing'

#126

Post by kccqzy »

jdlshore wrote: post #112
kccqzy wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it just doesn't save that much money, even if it works well You should see how wasteful typical American households are when they use a dumb thermometer. The best energy-saving feature is simply at-home vs away-from-home detection. I don't want my HVAC at home to run when I'm away at work or worse away at vacation, unless the temperature is really extreme. This easily saves me hundreds of dollars for a month-long v…

High end robot vacuums have been innovating (including Roomba), with self-emptying bins and ML-based obstacle avoidance for things like cords and pet waste. This requires a camera, so any high end robot vacuum is going to have one. For me, those features are worth it. The other big area of innovation is combo-vacuum+mop, including automatic water replacement and cleaning, but those features don’t seem to be fully rea…

ML-based obstacle avoidance does not require a camera. The latest products consciously avoid cameras to assuage fears that the images captured could be sent to the cloud.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/12/19/1065306/roomba-i...

Re: Apple explores home robotics as potential 'next big thing'

#127

Post by mamamis »

PopePompus wrote: post #99
npunt wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing about Apple is things can make sense for them to explore that don't make sense for others to. They have a big enough ecosystem, enough cash to do R&D on an idea for decades , and a culture of killing things that aren't good enough that make them an ideal place to determine whether ideas are a conceptual dead end versus just haven't been executed well enough (or tied to the right ecosystem to make them work)…

Yup, Google has the attention span of a gnat. I've used Pixel Phones for years, and I wouldn't be even slightly surprised to see that entire product line dropped tomorrow. I'm very glad to see Apple's Vision Pro, because I believe that if it succeeds it will be wonderful, and if it fails it means the AR/VR product category will never (well, not for a very long time at least) be anything but an unimportant niche produ…

I wonder if it is because of how its promotion package works. A middle manager thinks up of a product and executes in it. It launches, the manager get a promotion, and then it gets kill for not getting enough users. By then the manager got their pay raise and no longer needs the project.

Re: Apple explores home robotics as potential 'next big thing'

#128

Post by huytersd »

newhotelowner wrote: post #119
huytersd wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends. My backyard lawn is about 2 acres in size. It takes me 1.5 hours to manually mow it with a small 21 inch powered push mower. I just let the auto mower do its thing continuously and it charges itself. Costs almost nothing since I sharpen the blades about once a month myself. It’s also nice because the grass is always trimmed. You don’t have to go through the let it get tall and the landscaper mows it down…

What kind of auto mower?

Husqvarna

Re: Apple explores home robotics as potential 'next big thing'

#129

Post by bartonfink »

chongli wrote: post #107
rubatuga wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing with a fish feeder is that it can be completely analog and still work fine.

Only if you're feeding once a day. You often want to feed 2 or even 3 times a day with a smaller amount at each feeding time. This tends to lead to less wasted food.

You've made a stunning point. There's no analog way to make things happen more than once a day. The logic is clear and irrefutable. Well done.

Re: Apple explores home robotics as potential 'next big thing'

#130

Post by TheLoafOfBread »

V99 wrote: post #82
CharlieDigital wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everyone that doesn't enjoy cleaning, cooking, doing laundry, mowing the lawn, or taking out the trash would LOVE a home robot that really works. We are far, far away from any of the remaining tedious parts of those things being done competently by a robot. - Dishes: dishwashers already do the majority of the labor intensive part. - Laundry: the washer already does the labor intensive part. - Mowing: if you don't t…

Traversing a rectangle of grass at 2mph in a backyard is absurdly simpler than self-driving cars on open roads, and the absolute worst-case is something like a foot or pet injury. There are multiple companies that already sell automatic lawn mowers in the $1000+ range. Some you bury a boundary wire around the target area, others figure it out with cameras.

Unless it is not a rectangle and there trees randomly in the way and wife's flowers on the sides.
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