Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

thedailybeast.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

381–390 of 474 posts

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#381

Post by rsynnott »

megaman22 wrote: post #143
bane wrote: post #5

Here's what I want robots to do: 1) Wash my dishes, dry them and put them away completely automatically. 2) Wash and dry my clothes, fold them and put them away completely automatically. These two things would save me hours of work per week. FoldiMate simply isn't even close to being good enough, but I'd be willing to spend about that much for a robot that could do #2. I can vacuum my floor by myself and greet people…

You know what I want? I never want to mow my lawn again. I try really hard to burn it when it gets hot and dry, but the percentages aren't working out. Failing that, I'd like to have a roomba that rakes my leaves.

It's quite common to pave them here for that reason. Common enough that in some areas it's beginning to cause drainage issues; grass-covered ground is apparently better at draining water than paved.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#382

Post by deepGem »

soft_freak wrote: post #344
deepGem wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) Wash my dishes, dry them and put them away completely automatically. I have actually thought about this, since this is a chore that I absolutely hate. In my view no one should be subject to the task of making dishes. Some people seem to like it, God bless them ! Initial prototype will be to work with steel utensils to avoid damages. Current object detection techniques are sufficient to recognize plates, glasses, d…

Can we talk ?

Sure, email in my profile. Shoot me a message.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#383

Post by deepGem »

al2o3cr wrote: post #367
deepGem wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) Wash my dishes, dry them and put them away completely automatically. I have actually thought about this, since this is a chore that I absolutely hate. In my view no one should be subject to the task of making dishes. Some people seem to like it, God bless them ! Initial prototype will be to work with steel utensils to avoid damages. Current object detection techniques are sufficient to recognize plates, glasses, d…

This seems like a considerable amount of mechanical complexity (two multi-axis arms) to replace what's currently done with a jet of water...

Yes the mechanical complexity is by no means trivial, but I wouldn't call it unreasonably difficult. Reaching for an object in 3D space is bit of a path planning headache.

"what's currently done with a jet of water..." I didn't catch this. Do you mean the current dishwashers ?

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#384

Post by letsgetphysITal »

coldtea wrote: post #368
letsgetphysITal wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My girlfriend just bought dimming lamps for the living room so we can adjust the light levels in the evening. She CAN NOT see the benefit of having wireless bulbs controlled by your phone for this purpose. Apparently this is "too lazy". TOO LAZY. IS THAT A THING?!

Yes it is. The scientific name is "diminishing returns". (And in physical life, if one overdoes it with laziness, they can get from obese to pressure ulcers)

Right, sure, but we're talking in a thread about a machine which folds your clothes for you, or a house with two dishwashers so you can use them straight from one and put them into the other afterwards. I'm not advocating lying in a La-Z-Boy wearing a VR headset, eating nothing but Cheetos and Mountain Dew for 6 days straight. I'm talking about dimming all the lights in the room when you put on a film, or having them slowly brighten as you wake up in the morning.

And as for diminishing returns, I would argue that it is not. With proper configuration you can automate the entire morning routine; Lights up with your alarm, off when you leave the house, on when you arrive home, off when you go to bed. Just minor conveniences that make life more pleasurable.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#385

Post by saiya-jin »

cagenut wrote: post #355
dogma1138 wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It takes less than 5 min to take out the dishes from a full dishwasher even a large one. I don’t care how many downvotes this get but how lazy can one person be. Also I found even a better way and that is not to use the dishwasher at all besides after a dinner party or a large cooking session during the weekend. I live with my partner and it doesn’t take more than 10min to do the dishes at the end of each day without…

> I don’t care how many downvotes this get but how lazy can one person be. I downvoted but just to answer your question: INFINITY. INFINITY LAZY is the goal. Absolutely zero milliseconds worth of mindless toils would be my ideal number in life. That is the spec.

That is a lousy spec for real life. Since mindless toils in some form will always be part of our lives, it makes sense to optimize them reasonably, but have a mental setup of being at peace with some of it. Otherwise it's an uphill battle with you on losing side.

Laziness is a crappy mental setup for long term relationships, for parenting, heck even for work (I get some brilliant engineering work comes from laziness but it's a bit different type, and applied only sporadically).

In fact, some mindless work can be a sort of meditation.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#386

Post by rimliu »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #307
rimliu wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your car will go to the wrong place because it failed to > account for a leap second, thus breaking gps. I am taking a hard stance on this: if the car cannot drive without GPS then it is not autonomous.

By that measure a lot of human drivers aren't autonomous anymore.

Imagine yourself being transported to some unknown town blindfolded. Then blindfold is taken of and you are asked to drive around. You'd be still able to do that, just not drive to the particular destination. Or maybe you would be even able to do the latter due to the more or less naming of the streets.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#387

Post by rimliu »

viraptor wrote: post #328
rimliu wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your car will go to the wrong place because it failed to > account for a leap second, thus breaking gps. I am taking a hard stance on this: if the car cannot drive without GPS then it is not autonomous.

How would you propose it orients itself after starting up? Saved last location?

Sibling comment makes the correct distinction between driving and navigating. I do not expect self-driving car to be able to navigate without GPS, but it should not be required for driving around. However I'd say many humans would still be able to successfully navigate using road signs for directions.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#388

Post by erik_landerholm »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #309
erik_landerholm wrote: post #106

Don’t care! It’s the golden age of tvs! Oleds are a technology that’s actually living up to the hype. I have an lg wallpaper tv and you can roll it up! The new ones look even more flexible. One even rolls up into a box. Robots will catch up. The future of TVs is now!

Amazing, I always wanted to roll up my TV.

Can’t tell if you are joking or not, but when I unboxed my tv and was able to hold it up with one hand, easily and bend and twist it...pretty f’ing cool. It attaches to the wall with clips and magnets.

Rolling it up is great for some people. My wife isn’t a huge fan of giant TVs taking up space. The less than a pencil thickness of the lg tv makes it cooler than most, but being able to put it away or move it so easily would be cool.

They are only going to get more flexible. Soon you will have displays on everything and walls that double as TVs.

The lg wallpaper tv is my favorite piece of tech I’ve ever owned...unless you go back to the NES/SNES!

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#389

Post by russdill »

dabernathy89 wrote: post #366
Merad wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can vacuum my floor by myself If you're in the HN demographic that likes to live in small urban apartments then you may not see value in automated vacuuming, but believe me they are filling a need for many people. My 68 year old mom decided to get one last year, prompted by discussions with several of her friends. She loves it so much that she's become something of a Roomba evangelical - last I checked she's talk…

I'm still on the fence about whether I like our Roomba. A few things: - we can't run it on a schedule, b/c it requires prep (moving cat food/toys, floor mats, etc) - it's much slower than hand vacuuming, especially with our lightweight Dirt Devil (which is great for hardwood / tile but not for carpet) - it's not all that thorough. it naturally leaves some stuff behind because it pushes some dirt / dust around while s…

The prep work on a roomba is longer than for a normal vacuum. I have to empty the tiny dust bin and clean the brushes of pet hair. It ends up being not much of a time saver. Give me a roomba that empties itself into a larger bin when charging and doesn't require cleaning it's brushes.

Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

#390

Post by erik_landerholm »

dagw wrote: post #336
jazoom wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't work out if you're joking.

I want it too and I'm not joking. I don't want to 'waste' a whole wall for a large TV, but if I could hang a rolled up TV on a book case and only pull it out when I needed it I would love that. That being said I'm not expecting to see one at a price I'd want to pay in the next 15 years

I don’t know what you can afford, but oleds have come down 30-40% just since I purchased mine. Won’t take 15 years I don’t think.

The ‘standard’ oleds (which all look amazing) are going to the standard soon. The quality of the picture, blacks especially, is instantly noticeable.

Post reply on HN