141–150 of 162 posts
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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.
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Self driving cars seem tame in comparison.
I don't think so. To my knowledge, nobody has ever been killed by a Roomba. The robot problem is a lot less scary if there are essentially no life-and-death consequences for random innocent bystanders.
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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)…
> They have a big enough ecosystem, enough cash to do R&D on an idea for decades They can but do they? For all their flightiness on products, the company that actually does this is Google. They've poured money into very long term, questionable return projects at a rate Apple doesn't seem willing to do
> They can but do they?
Yes, they do.
"Smart home" has really fallen flat across the board, from smart speakers to the Roomba. It would be great if Apple changed that, but I'm not optimistic. I just don't think people really want smart home devices all that much.
I think the issue is that smart home devices didn't do anything I couldn't already do, but a physical switch is faster than arguing with the computer. Hey Google, can you turn off the baby bedroom light? I'm sorry, I don't know that device.
I normally recommend people start their home automation journey with smart bulbs, ideally in their bedroom so they can speak their lights off and on while in bed, but long-term, switches are the best.
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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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I'm shocked by your comment. 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. Of course, these are very hard problems to take on -- much harder than a "smart" light switch -- but the market is absolutely there.
> 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…
I know being late to the game and doing the tech "right" in terms of design and usability is kinda Apple's thing, but lately it seems like they have been only picking areas that weren't successful for a reason, like insurmountable technical difficulties or lack of customer interest, and no amount of Apple's design or marketing magic can fix that. See – self driving, AR/VR, smart speakers, folding phones, now home rob…
I also can't imagine a home robotics use case that I would get excited over. Can anyone think of anything? I would guess any new product would be more complex, less efficient, and a security risk. It'll be cool and trendy for a few months and then die off. Just like the Alexa and Google speakers that can tell you the weather or adjust your lights...is it REALLY that useful outside of entertaining your nieces and neph…
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> 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…
How far is "far far away" to you? The recent robot demos (linked below) make me thing it's not that far off. I think within my lifetime, certainly. Within the decade, at most. I expect someone to announce something concrete within a couple of years. https://www.figure.ai/ https://wholebody-b1.github.io/ https://ok-robot.github.io/ https://mobile-aloha.github.io/
Because they're not; the exact opposite in fact. That Spot missing the shoe on the first grab, being loud, and taking up more space than a German Shepard (without the floofy companionship) is case in point how far away we are.
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How far is "far far away" to you? The recent robot demos (linked below) make me thing it's not that far off. I think within my lifetime, certainly. Within the decade, at most. I expect someone to announce something concrete within a couple of years. https://www.figure.ai/ https://wholebody-b1.github.io/ https://ok-robot.github.io/ https://mobile-aloha.github.io/
Are those supposed to convince me that spending thousands on a robot will make my life measurably better? Because they're not; the exact opposite in fact. That Spot missing the shoe on the first grab, being loud, and taking up more space than a German Shepard (without the floofy companionship) is case in point how far away we are.