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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

#31

Post by mosselman »

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…

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 owning robots to do the specific things you mentioned. Obviously if you are immobile in some sense it would be great to have a cleaning robot

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

#32

Post by bdhess »

onion2k wrote: post #28
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…

This is what a 10 year old would want a robot for.

Defining where things belong is a thing I want control over, so that when I go to find something, it's right where I want it.

Actually putting things in their proper place is a chore, no matter how old you are.

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

#34

Post by hardwaresofton »

nick0garvey wrote: post #30

The idea of it being controlled by a remote person makes me feel like a new breed of gig-jobs could be around the corner. Buy a robot, and pay someone remotely to do your housekeeping for you. The housekeeper could even operate it from their smartphones.

Pay a robot[0] to operate a robot[0].

[0]: https://www.thefreedictionary.com/robot

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

#35

Post by snovv_crash »

verroq wrote: post #12
dvh wrote: post #5

$18k

At $1.8k it would be amazing, at $18k it's a big stretch. I would buy it at $1.8k.

$1.8k buys you a mid-range bicycle. $2.5k buys you a high end laptop. Both of those are made in millions. This is roughly a combo of the two.

So I'd guess that with sufficient volume this could get down to the $5k mark.

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

#36

Post by bdhess »

mosselman wrote: post #31
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…

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…

Even if you're not immobile it would be great to have a cleaning robot. Hiring housekeepers is a thing. Do you actually enjoy cleaning?

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

#37

Post by mNovak »

gojomo wrote: post #23

I'm looking forward to the day a small home robot can do the dishes, in the sink – replacing a dishwasher machine. This looks like a small step in that direction.

Wondering what the benefit of a dishwashing robot is? Better off just wishing for a more convenient / compact dishwasher, I think.

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

#39

Post by Qu3tzal »

In the demo video, for every basic task it needs some setup by a human (see how they fixed stuff on the stretchable arm for every action other than picking-up something) and all the interesting tasks were teleoperated.

I don't care about teleoperation, for a home robot I want automation.

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

#40

Post by paulie_a »

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…

> Or letting your kids play in the play room and then the robot comes in and puts all the toys back.

That's the kids responsibility after they are done. Otherwise I do like the application to keep things tidy. It's a small thing but it improves quality of life and removes a common task of dealing with clutter. I think a lot of robots will start with huge limitations that nearly paint it into a corner. Eventually a more generalized platform will exist. Too many companies are attempting to make that today and skip the necessary steps in between.

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