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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

#331

Post by lozaning »

snowwrestler wrote: post #330
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 use a good weekly cleaner, and she does not organize my stuff. If anything, hiring her has forced me to organize more frequently so my stuff is not in her way when she comes to clean. It's a totally different use case to have a labor-saving device available 24/7. For example, I did not stop using my dishwasher when I hired a cleaner, and my cleaner does not do my dishes or put them away.

My dream house includes a kitchen with enough dishwashers that they function as the cupboards for the dishes as well. then when the dishes are down they're already away.

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

#332

Post by brownbat »

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'm all for transition assistance and a safety net to mitigate the harms, but halting human ingenuity seems like it would put far greater numbers of people at risk of misery and untimely deaths.

Lamplighters are especially useful to consider here.

How many lives has electricity saved? How many ICUs can operate continual machines because of it? How many people at risk of heat stroke can run AC in summer because of it? How many transplants and temperature controlled medicines got delivered because of it? What about its role in food safety? What about timely communications of life saving information, like those lost at sea asking for help, or severe weather alerts advising others to shelter? That's just the beginning, it seems incalculable really.

That lamplighter should have had a society willing to catch them during the transition. But imagine if it solved this problem by holding that one person's job sacred at the cost of millions of other lives instead.

It's absolutely good and relevant to worry about individual cases, but it seems like society is better off if we allow jobs to adjust to the actual current needs of humanity, rather than holding them fixed. Then we just also try to do our best to take care of as many of those who fall through the cracks as we can.

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

#333

Post by brutus1213 »

A lot of excellent discussion here. A few years back at CES, I saw the concept of an appliance that will automatically fold your laundry. It was amazing to see (yet IMO a hoax). I maintain a robust and cheap solution to make the bed or fold laundry could be a game changer.

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

#334

Post by snowwrestler »

kwhitefoot wrote: post #312
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Dishwashers have a quality effect like many things.

If you have an ineffective dishwasher, you have to do lots of prep before putting dishes in, exclude lots of things from getting washed, etc. That takes longer, plus you don't cycle it as often, so you might find that you need a dirty dish and need to wash it by hand.

A very effective dishwasher is one for which you don't need to prep the dishes (just put them in) and can handle most of what you need to wash. It takes less work to use, and cycles more frequently. You can also cycle more frequently by getting a smaller machine.

The opportunity to invest in effective appliances is one reason it's nice to own a home, as opposed to renting.

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

#335

Post by tgeery »

lozaning wrote: post #331
snowwrestler wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use a good weekly cleaner, and she does not organize my stuff. If anything, hiring her has forced me to organize more frequently so my stuff is not in her way when she comes to clean. It's a totally different use case to have a labor-saving device available 24/7. For example, I did not stop using my dishwasher when I hired a cleaner, and my cleaner does not do my dishes or put them away.

My dream house includes a kitchen with enough dishwashers that they function as the cupboards for the dishes as well. then when the dishes are down they're already away.

I think I would be very interested in this

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

#336

Post by snowwrestler »

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.

The programmer's credo: "We do these things not because they are hard, but because we did not realize they were going to be hard."

Originally seen from HN user idlewords; not sure if he coined it, though.

Edit: I have it backward:

https://twitter.com/pinboard/status/761656824202276864

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

#337

Post by brutus1213 »

callalex wrote: post #325
greeniron wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

move to Singapore then. they have full-time, live-in maids from indonesia or phillipines that can cost as low as USD 300-400 a month. i grew up in Singapore, where I had 3 maids on staff at all times, and they took care of everything, 24/7.

Not everyone is ok with treating a fellow human like a robot.

I am not defending the situation except to point out .. people at the lowest rung of the social ladder need to eat and have work with dignity. This is a complex issue. I'm glad I don't live in a developing country anymore so don't have to come face to face with it. I would like to raise awareness that you , I and a bulk of people on HN live in absolute abundance compared to a wide swath of the population in places such as Philippines, Indonesia, India and Pakistan. It is better not to judge others like the original poster (who may be providing people with dignified labor opportunities).

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

#339

Post by monkeydust »

chansiky wrote: post #209
pftburger wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The killer app here is tele-operated cleaning, with a monthly subscription model. I actually dont think it will replace your aforementioned 4h/week cleaner, just augment it with daily tasks. Trying to stay as ethics neutral here. We will probably see something like "Human assisted AI" with a sliding scale from mostly human to mostly AI for various tasks at various stages of development. The operators will be sourced…

Yeah I agree, I think this space is huge. Imagine two or three generations down, someone from a poorer country using some form of VR tool with this, maybe with two arms instead of one, navigating your airbnb rental, cleaning counter tops, doing laundry, and organizing your stuff, and then jumping to the next appointment and doing it over and over for a solid days wage for their respective economy. With someone mannin…

Sounds depressing for the worker here, yes it's a job but only because AI isn't far advanced to replace them yet.

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

#340

Post by SrslyJosh »

Traubenfuchs wrote: post #73

Alternative title: "Startup offers one armed, remote controlled 20.000$ robot on wheels with limited autonomous capabilities" What's the use case besides novelty purposes? Who is supposed to buy this? Solely quadriplegic people come to mind but even that is a stretch and it's far too expensive. This is lightyears away from being a useful consumer object like a vacuum robot. If this is peak robotics, it is very disapp…

> Solely quadriplegic people come to mind but even that is a stretch and it's far too expensive.

No, it's not. $20k is peanuts compared to the cost of in-home care, especially since that would probably be pro-rated over ~5 years. If they can keep it in that price range and make it useful for simple household tasks (get something from the fridge/pantry/closet, put things in trash, operate a microwave or toaster oven, etc.), this could change a lot of people's lives for the better.

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