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YC: Requests for Startups

ycombinator.com

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Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#451

Post by nimblekuma »

"Robotics hasn't yet had its GPT moment, but we think it’s close"

From what I have been reading from those who run top-tier research labs in the field most agree that we are really far away. Why would people casually quote 30y away? https://techcrunch.com/2023/12/02/robotics-qa-with-metas-dhr...

It is because core issues remain unsolved, has nothing to do with some old engineering process that can be disrupted and more so with the fact that science isn't there yet. Most of the GPT wrappers that are used as reasoning still sit on top of classical low-level control. Personally, as someone who works in AI specifically around robotics I believe there is headway to make here.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#452

Post by kybernetikos »

csomar wrote: post #445
Animats wrote: post #221

Most of those take a lot more time and money than YC usually offers. There are some opportunities in "New Defense Technology". Something like a low-cost replacement for the Javelin anti-tank missile based on off the shelf phone camera parts ought to be possible. Of course, once that's out there, every insurgent group will have some. "Explainable AI" is really important. "Stablecoin finance" is mostly how to make sure…

> how to make sure the issuers don't steal the collateral I think they are looking for a "decentralized" solution where the collateral is held by a smart contract. > "Bring manufacturing back to America". Is it possible to build a cell phone in the US? US is offering money, so why not take it?

> I think they are looking for a "decentralized" solution where the collateral is held by a smart contract.

Problem is that unless the asset is virtual, it's going to actually be held by a legal person in the real world, not the smart contract, and it's not ideal to have a stable coin collateralised only by another virtual asset (although makerdao seems to make it work so far).

I think the main innovations here wouldn't be technical but legal, since good solutions to this problem involve the interface between the real world and the blockchain. I remember reading about a legal structure where real assets were held by a trust for the benefit of the owner of an NFT or something, but I'm sure there are other things you could do with the right legal structure, or possibly a central bank or a jurisdiction like Estonia could come up with something that would engender a lot of confidence.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#453

Post by cabalamat »

Animats wrote: post #252
echelon wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe the people behind the stablecoin have an explosive collar welded around their neck. If the price drops, it detonates. That might work. I hate crypto, but I love this idea. We should apply this to a lot of systems. Make stakeholders of anything accountable. 100% skin in the game.

China sometimes does that. Zheng_Xiaoyu, the head of China's equivalent of the Food and Drug Administration, was caught taking bribes to allow tainted drugs to be sold. He was executed in 2007. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zheng_Xiaoyu

A pity the USA couldn't do the same to Elizabeth Holmes.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#454

Post by fakedang »

happytiger wrote: post #312

I spent a great while inside of medical during the pandemic and it was… interesting. There are some incredibly large interests in the space that wield intense power and control over various markets. There is also a profound degree of inefficiency in a lot of what’s happening. The question is whether many of those inefficiencies are technology problems or if they are intentionally constructed for the many reasons thes…

> And there is also a ton of interesting businesses in generics.

Can you please elaborate on this? We are currently exploring a project in the same space, and I would love to discuss.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#455

Post by gaiagraphia »

Man, it's pretty sad looking at this list. I feel the world's just rocketing out of reach of understandability.

My background's in education. I always wonder whether a solid bet would be on overhauling the system totally so the foundations of these new 'future trades' are solidly grounded from 4 years old somehow.

It seems our knowledge is an abstraction layer upon an abstraction layer upon... There's just so much shit to know, and it feels all muddied. I feel what I learnt at school hasn't equipped me for anything in the 21st century whatsoever.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#456

Post by shiroiushi »

baron816 wrote: post #434
a_vanderbilt wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fun fact about the Javelin bit. I know it was just a throwaway example but something to tickle your brain about it: Phone camera parts would be overkill. The Javelin sensor isn't nearly that high-resolution, we're talking low triple digits in "pixels". It does however refresh its readings very fast, a necessity given its speed. The old Javelin used active cryo and a filtered IR imager, the new one is passive like the…

One thing I’ve been thinking about re: Javelin (and MANPADS)—would it be better to be able to fire them remotely? ie let soldiers put a set of launch tubes in a bush or behind a rock, then use the targeting system from a separate location. That way, the solders’ location isn’t revealed by firing the missile. Better yet if you can strap the tubes to a robot dog. Another idea: drone AWACS. I mean, a drone with radar to…

Doing anything remotely means using radio signals to control the thing, and that becomes the main weakness: radio signals can be jammed. You could try other means of communication, like lasers, though, but those too have their own weaknesses.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#457

Post by shiroiushi »

542458 wrote: post #346
skrbjc wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Bring manufacturing back to America". Is it possible to build a cell phone in the US? I think we should start more basic and work our way up. For example, there isn't a real reason we can't produce all of our domestic iron and steel needs in the USA, but we end up importing a lot right now. Same with aluminum, etc. But this isn't something YC is really going to help with unless they are funding manufacturing and ind…

You can do advanced electronics manufacturing in North America, it just has tradeoffs - primarily cost and process availability. I work for a company that builds high-end electronics over in Canada; Opinions are my own.

Advanced electronics manufacturing never left the US. The problem is that all the consumer-grade stuff left, and what's left is all really high-end military stuff, and is stupidly expensive. It's great if you're a defense contractor building some state-of-the-art weapons system that really needs the performance offered by those process technologies, but if you want to build a simple prototype for your small business, or you want to build some not-so-cutting-edge electronics in high volume for consumers, it just isn't feasible.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#458

Post by lagniappe »

shiroiushi wrote: post #456
baron816 wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing I’ve been thinking about re: Javelin (and MANPADS)—would it be better to be able to fire them remotely? ie let soldiers put a set of launch tubes in a bush or behind a rock, then use the targeting system from a separate location. That way, the solders’ location isn’t revealed by firing the missile. Better yet if you can strap the tubes to a robot dog. Another idea: drone AWACS. I mean, a drone with radar to…

Doing anything remotely means using radio signals to control the thing, and that becomes the main weakness: radio signals can be jammed. You could try other means of communication, like lasers, though, but those too have their own weaknesses.

line of sight laser pulses would work.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#459

Post by shiroiushi »

CalChris wrote: post #323

ELIMINATING MIDDLEMEN IN HEALTHCARE by creating another middleman in healthcare. This was first proposed by Jim Clark's Healtheon. "We want to empower the doctors and the patients and get all the other assholes out of the way." … "Except for us. One asshole in the middle." — The New New Thing , Michael Lewis. The reason we spend so much is that public healthcare is a public good and private companies aren't good at m…

>The reason we spend so much is that public healthcare is ... We need Single Payer.

Lots of countries do not have single payer healthcare, and have an insurance system that resembles America's, yet they don't have America's ridiculous prices.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#460

Post by Ensorceled »

mlhpdx wrote: post #417
madeofpalk wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s only one way to ‘eliminate the middle man’, and that’s universal health care

So there are no middle(people) in Medicare? Or the defense industry? Single payer may just as likely future calcify the structures.

> So there are no middle(people) in Medicare? Or the defense industry?

Sooooo close to getting it.

I checked out "How does Medicare work?" [1] and, wow, that's so much more complicated than healthcare in Canada. A big part of the problem is that Medicare has to work within the current broken structure of the US health care system and pay those same middlemen.

> Single payer may just as likely future calcif[ied] the structures.

But what the US has is so much worse than the how the rest of the developed world has "calcify the structures".

[1] https://www.medicare.gov/basics/get-started-with-medicare/me...

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