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

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

#361

Post by spyckie2 » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 2:44 AM 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…

I think you have to think beyond equivalencies. We pay for 4 hrs/week because we can't afford more. But what if you could have 15 times or 50 times a day kind of cleaning, just not as thorough?

That's what I think the value is for this robot. A quick clean, reorg of the room / house.

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

#362

Post by spyckie2 » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 2:53 AM UTC

bArray wrote: post #61

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…

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…

Yes, this is the point. The market is replacing housework, but with its capabilities it can only replace a specific subset of housework currently. However, if there is just one really valuable thing it can do, then it may be worth it even if there are 50 things it can't do.

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

#363

Post by spyckie2 » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 2:57 AM UTC

ragebol wrote: post #62

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…

- Set the table - Gather & sort laundry, maybe even put in the washing machine - Gather dishes and maybe put them in the washer All chores easy for an able bodies human. But imagine having some disability or getting older. Getting back that autonomy in your life is definitely worth the money. Heck, if I have to pick between playing with my newborn son or doing the above and the likes, I'd trade my car for a robot tha…

I would hesitate to use this robot for dishes. Maybe sorting laundry but not folding them. And I don't know if it can actually set the table fast enough.

You'd be surprised at how much dexterity and precision all these things need. I doubt this robot can handle that.

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

#364

Post by zelly » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 4:01 AM UTC

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…

I could never see buying something like this even for $2k because by the time the investment pays for itself the tech would be outdated.

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

#365

Post by yencabulator » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 4:45 AM UTC

bawana wrote: post #198

deepaksurti wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Personally, though, I would bet on dedicated, single-purpose robots, working together through wireless communication. Robonix Philosophy at play here, inspired from Unix philosophy [1] - Make each robot do one thing well - Expect the output of every robot to become the input to another - Design and build robots to be tried early, ideally within weeks - Use robots in preference to unskilled help to lighten a chore…

Difference is : robots take up a lot more space. Having multiple simple robots leads to traffic in the real world and taking away space that humans could use. If robots could be like bosons that would be better

For a hundred robots, sure. For inner city apartments, sure. But I could put 10 of these things in the corner of this room right now and mostly not notice.

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

#366

Post by notJim » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 4:48 AM UTC

brownbat wrote: post #332

notJim wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?…

Wait, so you're suggesting we should think more about what happens to them, rather than ridiculing the question?

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

#367

Post by yencabulator » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 4:50 AM UTC

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…

> - interact with buttons or touch screens (so laundry might be hard)

What makes you say that? All it needs is a "knuckle" on the backside of the grasping arm, to push things with.

We already make gloves that work with touchscreens, so the knuckle can work with them also. Vision is the harder part.

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

#368

Post by spyckie2 » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 6:16 AM UTC

wiradikusuma wrote: post #140

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…

In my country, the robot is called M.A.I.D, Mobile Autonomous Interactive Dude(tte), and it's like $5/hour.

A maid can do much more things than this robot can do. This robot is actually quite limited.

It's trying to work within the limitations of the robot and figure out what value it can bring that is the interesting part.

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

#369

Post by spyckie2 » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 6:20 AM UTC

paulie_a wrote: post #40

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 mo…

it is the kid's responsibility... until it becomes the robot's.

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

#370

Post by LordDragonfang » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 6:23 AM UTC

monkeydust wrote: post #339

chansiky wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that sentiment could be used to describe between 80 and 95% of the global job market. Most jobs suck, otherwise you wouldn't have to pay people to do them.