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CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

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Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#261

Post by LandR »

joeframbach wrote: post #171
bane wrote: post #5

Here'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…

Do you really spend hours on these chores? I can understand if you have one arm, or suffer from narcolepsy, or something else. But most people should be able to clean up after dinner in less than ten minutes, and wash and fold a week's work of laundry in less than half an hour.

It's the ironing that is the time killer for me. It can easily take me 2-3 hours to do a weeks worth of ironing.

On top of that it takes an hour to wash and spin the clothes, and I need to be home for that finishing since wet clothes can't sit in the machine too long.

On top of clothes you ahve bedding that needs washed and ironed and that is a proper pain, especially on my smallish washing machine. That's 2 washes each week to wash bedding, then ironing duvets and sheets takes ages.

And ironing services won't do bedding for some reason.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#262

Post by Cthulhu_ »

bane wrote: post #5

Here'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…

For #1, I have a dishwasher which is like a dish rack, cleaner, dryer all in one! Just don't put your dishes away after cleaning and you're done.

For #2, you can hire people to do it, probably cheaper, more reliable, more flexible and better than robots will be in forever. This'll also create or maintain jobs, and save you said hours a week (which you can use to work and make money to pay for the cleaner).

IMO some things don't need to be automated, and humanity can go back to being more social and giving work to other people instead of trying to automate it to avoid human contact.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#263

Post by mywacaday »

dingaling wrote: post #173
Merad wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can vacuum my floor by myself If you're in the HN demographic that likes to live in small urban apartments then you may not see value in automated vacuuming, but believe me they are filling a need for many people. My 68 year old mom decided to get one last year, prompted by discussions with several of her friends. She loves it so much that she's become something of a Roomba evangelical - last I checked she's talk…

The main dust-trap in our house is the carpeted stairs. Since I have to drag a vacuum out to do those I might as well do the rest of the house whilst I'm at it. I suppose I could have a Roomba that I moved up and down the storeys on alternating days, plus a manual vacuum cleaner solely for the stairs, but that seems to be defeating the point of robotics.

The Dyson animal is a nice half way house, runs for 20 mins on a charge and because its always to hand the mental block of hauling the full size vacuum out from under stairs is gone, makes starting the job easier.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#264

Post by Cthulhu_ »

crdoconnor wrote: post #256
weego wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's great, unfortunately he seems to have lost perspective and is developing a product no one will want at a price no one will pay.

Laundrettes?

Maybe if you had a guy whose job was to feed clothes into it in just the right way. TBF an experienced laundry person can fold them manually, much faster.

Don't let a robot do something a human can do better.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#265

Post by Cthulhu_ »

bigiain wrote: post #178
Merad wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can vacuum my floor by myself If you're in the HN demographic that likes to live in small urban apartments then you may not see value in automated vacuuming, but believe me they are filling a need for many people. My 68 year old mom decided to get one last year, prompted by discussions with several of her friends. She loves it so much that she's become something of a Roomba evangelical - last I checked she's talk…

I get a real kick out of getting home after the vacuuming robot has been doing my housework while I'm out :-) I'd love a similarly simple way to press a button and have my laundry done - I've seen combined washer/dryers, but I'd love something that sorted and folded everything for me... (Interestingly, I live alone, and do not have any motivation to buy a dishwasher.)

You can hire people to do that for you, you know - very flexible, can do all the things, do them while you're out of the house.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#266

Post by dagw »

crdoconnor wrote: post #256
weego wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's great, unfortunately he seems to have lost perspective and is developing a product no one will want at a price no one will pay.

Laundrettes?

There already exist machines that work on a more industrial scale. This seems aimed more at the home market.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#267

Post by LandR »

itronitron wrote: post #149
flukus wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That requires either some decision making from the robot or a lot of prompting me for answer's, neither of which I enjoy. A pair of shorts on the floor? I might want to wear them later, I don't want them back in the drawer or in the washing machine, I want them there to slip on when the pizza guy comes. The box I might want thrown out instantly but I could have other plans for it. Robots need to be able to work aroun…

how about a robot whose job is to pick things up off the floor and attach them to hooks hanging from the ceiling? that way all of the floor-based robots would be free and clear to conduct their business

Hooks hanging from the ceilings. Robotic arms coming out the ceiling.

It sounds like I'd be living in some dystopian nightmare.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#268

Post by Cthulhu_ »

rexpop wrote: post #72
CapitalistCartr wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) Get two dishwashers. Alternate them clean/dirty. Think of them as self-washing cabinets from sci-fi. 2) Get a laundry service or maid service. Save thousands of dollars.

Then we're not really saving labor — we're just saving MY labor.

And ensuring your upper-middle-class wealth is distributed properly instead of going to the 1% that build robots.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#269

Post by Cthulhu_ »

dingo_bat wrote: post #107
bane wrote: post #5

Here'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…

3) Make food for me in my kitchen.

There's loads of food delivery services out there. Most of them have their own kitchen, so you don't even need to clean up!

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#270

Post by dagw »

zimpenfish wrote: post #245
gajomi wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This makes me think... are there any special circumstances in which clothes need to be folded in such a special way and with sufficiently high throughput that this kind of machine could make headway? Oftentimes general purpose technologies can come to market only after predecessors in niche areas.

As a side comment mentioned: hotels would be an ideal case because they have a lot of standard things that need to be folded (sheets, pillow cases, towels, etc.) and sticking to those basic cases could probably bring the cost way down and reliability way up. (But I suspect you don’t need a fancy machine for simple shapes - a simple folding wooden rig would do and be almost as quick. Hell, I’ve got a cheap plastic thi…

hotels would be an ideal case because they have a lot of standard things that need to be folded

Large hotels and commercial laundry operations already have expensive specialized machines for folding. This does not seem to be targeting that market.

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