Why do many people seem to think we have solved human robots because of the advances in LLMs? We are still yet to solve 4 wheeled robots navigating a constrained environment. Are we really expecting these things to be let loose _in people’s homes_?!
Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics
351–360 of 431 posts
Re: Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics
#352Earlier quoted context omitted.
> robot maid that could clean, wash and fold the laundry, do the dishes, etc. would be huge. I think a lot of people would pay new-car money for something like that. Once you take maintenance of a machine with price-parity to a new car into consideration, it’s surely cost competitive to just hire a human to do all those things. The price needs to fall drastically below new-car territory before it’s competitive with m…
A new car is what, $25-50K? Thats a one time cost. How much do you think youd need to pay a maid every year to do your cooking, cleaning, laundry, dirty dishes etc? Coming once a day for 2 hours would be very expensive and still wouldnt be comparable to a robot that you own and is constantly deployed. And at that point you’re probably comparing owning a robot to renting one.
"A new car is what, $25-50K?"
Apparently $50K is closer to average in the U.S.
Re: Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics
#353Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Compared to ICEs, where advancement has stalled for the last 20 years, It hasn't really stalled: VVT, VCR, Cylinder deactivation that works properly, and start-stop becoming commonplace are all meaningful improvements (though smaller than the ones seen in EVs over the same time frame, which makes sense given the relative maturity).
ICE advancements haven’t materially affected car performance like EV advancements have. Start-stop is considered an annoyance to most car owners, for example, not a feature. It is mostly because ICE tech is mature and has no real place to go for improvements beyond incremental refinement. EVs can ride the wave of battery tech advancements for another decade or two.
Honestly I think the biggest advancements in ICE cars recently have been the development and maturation of hybrid cars. Imagine telling someone in 2006 that your minivan got 36 miles per gallon!
Re: Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics
#354Looking forward to a three month wait for my robot to be repaired. Basing this assumption on current vehicular maintenance times.
Re: Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics
#355Re: Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics
#356Earlier quoted context omitted.
$325M for 9.65% implies a valuation of around $3.4 billion, so it's more like 18x. Regardless, Boston Dynamics has been burning cash for 35 years and all they have to show for it are some fancy demos and trial deployments. Eventually you have to wonder what their future prospects are.
> Eventually you have to wonder what their future prospects are. Boston Dynamics is a defense contractor, their future prospects are designing and manufacturing war machines, the same thing they’ve always done. The dog robots are meant to carry stuff/support combat troops. The humanoid robots are designed to rescue injured soldiers and possibly other risky tasks. They may have plans to commercialize these robots, but…
Those robot dogs have been looking amazing for as long as I can think. What's in the way of the big military contract?
Re: Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics
#357Back in December 2020, Hyundai purchased an 80% controlling interest in Boston Dynamics from SoftBank for $880 million, part of a transaction that valued the robotics company at $1.1 billion. That agreement included a put option allowing SoftBank to sell its remaining stake to Hyundai at a later date. SoftBank has now exercised that option.
Meanwhile SoftBank buys ABB’s robotics business .. https://group.softbank/en/news/press/20251008
Re: Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics
#358Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yesterday I read about Cursor being sold for $60bn. Cursor being worth more than 50x Boston Dynamics seems insane.
SpaceX paid that $60 billion entirely in stock. In other words, they traded 2% of their own inflated stock value, for 100% of Cursor's inflated stock value. This is actually a great deal for SpaceX. If they had paid $60 billion dollars in cash for Cursor, it would have been a ripoff.
Couldn't they just have sold their stock for dollars?
Re: Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics
#359Earlier quoted context omitted.
SpaceX paid that $60 billion entirely in stock. In other words, they traded 2% of their own inflated stock value, for 100% of Cursor's inflated stock value. This is actually a great deal for SpaceX. If they had paid $60 billion dollars in cash for Cursor, it would have been a ripoff.
Couldn't they just have sold their stock for dollars?
Dumping $60 billion worth of shares would tank the stock price, causing it to not convert into anywhere near $60 billion.
Re: Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics
#360Earlier quoted context omitted.
The human arms and hands are very versatile, and imitating them is a good choice for a universal robot, though 3 or 4 arms are definitely better than 2, and the hardest to imitate are the sensors, not the actuators. But the rest of the human body is not useful in a factory environment, so the arms could be mounted on a mobile base that does not have any resemblance to a human.
> the rest of the human body is not useful in a factory environment I dunno, a legged design is pretty useful for navigating complex environments. The arms and legs have to attach to something so you've still got some sort of torso. About the only thing you can easily do away with is the head I think. But certainly a bipedal design seems unnecessarily complicated unless you need it to climb ladders inside narrow tube…
In a factory, where you can guarantee a hard, smooth floor, I would think wheels are better in most cases than four feet.
But of course the wheels could be replaced with feet where that's needed.