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Ex-Googler's startup comes out of stealth with simple, clever robot design

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Re: Ex-Googler's startup comes out of stealth with simple, clever robot design

#191

Post by seanmcdirmid »

gojomo wrote: post #111
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s the exact opposite of how most robotics are going for more specialized machines, not less. It is an interesting prospect, but what would be saved in space would be lost in more energy and water used (not to mention hygiene, we’ve used our dishwasher a lot more since we have had a kid to disinfect).

Are you sure a set of robot arms, trained over many generations to minimize motion/water/energy use, while also minimizing dirty dishes, would necessarily use more water/energy than a dishwasher? What if the dishwasher is sometimes run half-full? And the arms can put clean things away!

Half full the dishwasher is still a win, a quarter full and then we are talking, probably not.

Re: Ex-Googler's startup comes out of stealth with simple, clever robot design

#192

Post by blhack »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #49
mosselman wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you could teach your kids to clean up their toys themselves. Make it a fun game for example. Set an example by putting away your own groceries as soon as you put them in the kitchen. Boom 5k saved. Maybe they will grow up to not be the type of person who leaves all of their crap on the table of the university table after they are done studying. To be clear: I am not shifting on you as a parent. I am making fun of…

People used to say the same things about dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, powered lawn mowers, etc. Heck, one could imagine Og the caveperson lamenting that their kids don’t know how to drag stones properly anymore given that new fangled wheel invention. Don’t worry, we will find other ways to discipline and train our kids as tech marches forward.

Your point is valid, but I never pass up an opportunity for a fun fact, so: wheels are not nearly as old as you think: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel

Re: Ex-Googler's startup comes out of stealth with simple, clever robot design

#193

Post by koheripbal »

gexla wrote: post #106

Kids' chores 2000: Take out the trash, 2 minutes. Kid's chores 2020: Up until 3AM programming the robot to take out the trash. Purchased the robot two weeks ago. Kid only moves to go to sleep. Trash is building up. No other chores are getting done. Chores dashboard is flashing red. Take out trash sprint way overdue.

This is funny.

The main chore I want a robot to do is laundry. I'd pay good money if a robot could simply put the clothes of the hamper in the laundry machine, transfer to the dryer, and then put them away.

Re: Ex-Googler's startup comes out of stealth with simple, clever robot design

#194

Post by asd4 »

Jack000 wrote: post #136
imtringued wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you forgot a zero there. A 3 axis CNC mill usually costs a few thousands of dollars. There are some crappy CNC engravers and dirt cheap 3D printers but the rigidity requirements are so low that they are a completely different class of machine.

There is a pretty big range of prices. The cheap Chinese ones aren't necessarily well built but they work fine for hobbyist stuff. Motors, motor controllers + motion system are cheap enough for affordable home robots I think. The problem is automating actual tasks with the limitations of the motor controls.

Unfortunately the controls problem gets much harder in a non-rigid system. Now you have to solve autonomy AND overcome poor sensing and manipulation.

Re: Ex-Googler's startup comes out of stealth with simple, clever robot design

#195

Post by john4532452 »

slim wrote: post #171
mleonhard wrote: post #57

In 2014, I was at Google and went to an open house event at the Google robotics lab in SF. The people I met there were nice. I almost applied for a job there. Then I looked up the person who would have been my boss. He was scowling in his Google profile photo. His LinkedIn showed him as founder of a robotics company, with no mention of Google. He obviously wanted to be the CEO of a robotics company, not a director in…

4 years is nothing at the scale of human progress

If one is 40 and adding 4 years is 44, that's a lot of valuable years to be productive cognitively.

Re: Ex-Googler's startup comes out of stealth with simple, clever robot design

#196

Post by NikolaeVarius »

gexla wrote: post #106

Kids' chores 2000: Take out the trash, 2 minutes. Kid's chores 2020: Up until 3AM programming the robot to take out the trash. Purchased the robot two weeks ago. Kid only moves to go to sleep. Trash is building up. No other chores are getting done. Chores dashboard is flashing red. Take out trash sprint way overdue.

Calvin and Hobbes already did this plotline https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2014/09/01

Re: Ex-Googler's startup comes out of stealth with simple, clever robot design

#197

Post by mikeruhl »

People are complaining about what this can't do, but for the disabled, the simple things it can do is going to be monumental. I see this as an amazing tool for the disabled, not a "beer me bot" for the lazy.

EDIT: And I should add, I hope they market this to that severely underserved market. If they only market it as a product for the rich to do simple tasks, it will suffer Segway's fate. If they create a market for it in healthcare and partner with those already in that space, this could be something big. It would pay for itself for people who need 24/7 care, if it were reliable enough.

Re: Ex-Googler's startup comes out of stealth with simple, clever robot design

#198

Post by bawana »

deepaksurti wrote: post #158
espadrine wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd gladly pay 5k for a robot that can auto-organize my stuff around the house The main equation for general-use household robots is: can it beat human fares? A good weekly cleaner (4 hours) is about €22/h in Paris, or €4.5k/year. Let’s say your robot lives 4 years, similar to your computer (which seems fair, since it is one, and an abused one at that). Since you amortize its price over 4 years, its initial cost mu…

>> Personally, though, I would bet on dedicated, single-purpose robots, working together through wireless communication. Robonix Philosophy at play here, inspired from Unix philosophy [1] - Make each robot do one thing well - Expect the output of every robot to become the input to another - Design and build robots to be tried early, ideally within weeks - Use robots in preference to unskilled help to lighten a chore…

Difference is : robots take up a lot more space. Having multiple simple robots leads to traffic in the real world and taking away space that humans could use. If robots could be like bosons that would be better

Re: Ex-Googler's startup comes out of stealth with simple, clever robot design

#199

Post by koheripbal »

mleonhard wrote: post #57

In 2014, I was at Google and went to an open house event at the Google robotics lab in SF. The people I met there were nice. I almost applied for a job there. Then I looked up the person who would have been my boss. He was scowling in his Google profile photo. His LinkedIn showed him as founder of a robotics company, with no mention of Google. He obviously wanted to be the CEO of a robotics company, not a director in…

Given the net number of massive companies that emerged from VCs, this is obviously not true.

Re: Ex-Googler's startup comes out of stealth with simple, clever robot design

#200

Post by Izkata »

chosenbreed37 wrote: post #156
aptwebapps wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another possible angle is integrations, i.e. robot-friendly appliances. Maybe the washing machine has a powered door and an API that the robot (or some other software) uses to control it. No need to push buttons. Obviously, this won't cover all scenarios, but as someone upthread said, to be useful it doesn't have to do everything. The bigger issue, IMO, is avoiding distasters like Roombas trying to vacuum dog poop.

This sounds like a good idea. As you said it doesn't have to cover all scenarios. I'm happy with our Roomba. We don't have any dogs but is it really that bad!? :-)

Consider the Pooptastrophe (also known as the Poopocalypse): https://cheezburger.com/897029/dogs-roomba-please-consider-t...
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