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

Post by jamesrcole » Tue, Jul 14, 2020, 4:21 PM UTC

thisisbrians wrote: post #282

I admire the hard work that surely went into this, but I have to say: as a former robotics hobbyist, I'm extremely unimpressed with the weight, cost, and limited capabilities of this thing. And that impression is based on the technology we had over a decade ago. With access to a few machine tools and a 3d printer, I'd bet an equally capable prototype would cost no more than a few hundred dollars. No wonder almost no…

Post by bArray » Tue, Jul 14, 2020, 4:24 PM UTC

koheripbal wrote: post #226

bArray wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Things it can't do (extended): - operate in your particular setting (it's likely over-trained for that specific environment) - run for long periods of time as a fully autonomous robot - be anywhere near small humans or animals - do any of the tasks in the video with any kind of speed or precision - learn new tasks - handle multiple objectives, or even process the request of a single objective reliably This is nowhere…

Since when do we define the value of something by the infinite list of things it can't do? I could make a list a mile long of all the things my dishwasher cannot do... does that mean no HNs have dishwashers?

Post by deegles » Tue, Jul 14, 2020, 4:29 PM UTC

altcognito wrote: post #237

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…

I can tell you there is a huge market for something that works well in the 40-50k range. You are vastly, vastly underestimating this market. Hotels have a variety of tasks they would love to replace a host of low cost labor with robots with. Someone in a higher income bracket wouldn’t think twice about that cost if it did significant work. On the other hand, the bar is high (cleaning, folding, picking up -- all are s…

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jul 14, 2020, 4:35 PM UTC

espadrine wrote: post #131

spyckie2 wrote: post #26

Things it can't do: - go up stairs - get up after a fall / reset itself - pick up heavy objects - precise motion (so no cooking) - interact with buttons or touch screens (so laundry might be hard) The one use case I think it might be worth it is if the robot can take a room full of toys and return everything back to where it belongs. Kind of like a one click, reset this room. If it can help me keep organized and clea…

> 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…

Post by Osiris » Tue, Jul 14, 2020, 4:41 PM UTC

skratlo wrote: post #296

altcognito wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can tell you there is a huge market for something that works well in the 40-50k range. You are vastly, vastly underestimating this market. Hotels have a variety of tasks they would love to replace a host of low cost labor with robots with. Someone in a higher income bracket wouldn’t think twice about that cost if it did significant work. On the other hand, the bar is high (cleaning, folding, picking up -- all are s…

yadayada, you're all robots, artificial humans, walking calculators. tell me what those low income workers will do when you take away their jobs?