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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

#311

Post by regularfry »

koheripbal wrote: post #208
regularfry wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't tell us anything one way or the other. That's survivorship bias talking.

Your sample is wrong. We are comparing the number of successful new companies that came out of VC vs the number of successful new companies that came without VC. ...and it's easily obvious that almost all of the new large tech companies emerged from VC.

No, that's what you are doing. What I'm doing is comparing the number of successful companies that came out given that the VC system exists versus a situation where it doesn't. We don't know how many potentially successful companies haven't been started, or got strangled in the crib, because of the dynamics of the VC ecosystem and the fact that it exists.

Also it's an error of remarkable proportions to assume that "massive company" is synonymous with "net positive to humanity", particularly in tech.

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

#312

Post by kwhitefoot »

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.

> People used to say the same things about dishwashers

I still say the same about dishwashers. In the time it takes me to sort things into what can and cannot safely go in the washer, scrape off the food residue, load the machine, and unload the machine, I can simply wash the dishes and stack them on a rack to dry.

Vacuum cleaners are useful but actually not very important in the kind of dwelling that the robot could inhabit because it will have to have flat floor with no carpets so a broom will do just as well (or a Roomba type cleaner).

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

#313

Post by kwhitefoot »

techie128 wrote: post #98
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why the focus on low cost and immigrants? There's millions of people in your country (and I don't even know where you live) that live below the poverty line or are unemployed. Open up jobs, pay a decent wage, and stop this line of thought about exploiting people as much as possible for as little money as possible.

Why are you equating low cost with exploitation? Why focus on the immigrants when my post _clearly_ mentioned local or immigrants? It is also very disingenuous for you to remark about my location. Clearly, Hacker News is US/Silicon Valley centric. My comment was pointing out that Silicon Valley engineers need to get their heads out of their asses and look at the unemployment not only in the US but rest of the world.…

> Why are you equating low cost with exploitation?

Probably because low cost always seems to mean low income, low status, long hours, and insecure employment.

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

#315

Post by kwhitefoot »

macrolime wrote: post #123
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have the money, why not just hire a help? Hire your neighbour, not some billionaire. There's social ways and means for a situation like that. But oh no, having people around and paying them a decent wage smells like socialism! Anti-individualism! Better to pay 20K for a half-assed robot that can only do a fraction of what needs to be done than to pay someone's wage, right?

Call your neighbor every time you need to put some dishes in the dishwasher or do some laundry? You could have a maid but then you need to have them around all the time or you need a lot of space. Also many places in Europe it's essentially illegal to have a maid.

> illegal to have a maid

Utter bollocks!

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

#316

Post by orestarod »

notJim wrote: post #303
Osiris wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happened to gas lighters when street lights were replaced with electric lights?

Well, what did happen to them? The implication of your statement was that they were obviously totally fine, but is that a given? It's possible they were miserable and then died. Switching careers is not always easy and smooth.

I believe cost cuts to maximize profit consistently cause an enormous number of people to lose their jobs, yet no one addresses that.

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

#317

Post by kwhitefoot »

koheripbal wrote: post #193
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.

Just buy a washer drier. Don't have a hamper just put the laundry in the machine until it is full then switch it on. Go out to work, come home to clothes washed and dried.

Granted, you do have to take them out and put them away.

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

#318

Post by shpongled »

chosenbreed37 wrote: post #279
shpongled wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes I read things on HN and wonder if I'm living in some alternate universe by myself. I would never in a million years, allow someone else to remote-operate a robot in my house. The idea of even allowing something above Roomba-level intelligence in my living area is a no-go.

> Sometimes I read things on HN and wonder if I'm living in some alternate universe by myself. I would never in a million years, allow someone else to remote-operate a robot in my house. The idea of even allowing something above Roomba-level intelligence in my living area is a no-go. Mmm...I guess it's fair to assume that the IQ of a human cleaner is superior to anything resembling a Roomba. Would you hire a human cl…

No issues with humans being in my house. There is just something abjectly dystopian about robots (imo).

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

#319

Post by bcrosby95 »

leetcrew wrote: post #214
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…

a human cleaner isn't really a perfect substitute for a robot. people might feel uncomfortable with having a human worker in their house for a variety of reasons. most people I know actually clean their whole house before the cleaning service shows up. you don't have to feel guilt/embarrassment at the state of your house when the robot starts working. I could imagine a lot of people might be willing to pay a premium…

At our house, we don't clean because of embarrassment. We clean because we want them to do the stuff that we don't want to do ourselves. I'd rather they spend time cleaning the oven than pick up toys.

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

#320

Post by espadrine »

jvanderbot wrote: post #271
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…

Your statement and previous do not contradict. Multiplying the hours required to do the job in a larger environment like a hotel (4/week becomes 80 person hours / week) would produce a break-even cost higher than what you suggest.

Indeed. To give further figures, in France the minimum wage is around €10, and employees cannot work more than 35h/week, which yields a price point of €72k below which a 4-year-lifetime machine with human performance becomes cost-effective for a hotel.

In fact, France would probably be a very attractive country for this technology because of this.

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