Where are the robotic bricklayers? • Hacker News Board

Re: Where are the robotic bricklayers?

#561

Post by afrodc_ » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 11:47 PM UTC

eru wrote: post #276

afrodc_ wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard the opposite of this in that self driving cars underperform compared to human drivers across the board. The sample size of self driving cars doing everything a driver does is also miniscule. Do you have a source?

So far Google's self-driving cars have vastly fewer accidents than humans have per mile. Or what kind of performance are you interested in? I am sure, they could also be made to drive faster than humans and still be safer on average thanks to superior reflexes and foresight. But what do you mean by 'across the board'? As far sources, a web search gives many articles about safety of self driving cars. See eg https://w…

Sorry for the delay. I don't get notifications. Not sure how people are so active on here with communication. Maybe you or someone could recommend a way?

Anyways:

> But what do you mean by 'across the board'?

By that I mean across all of the people driving in the US and their rate of incidence. For example, average miles driven, the amount of drivers and the rate of accidents. I think the most intriguing detail could be drawn from the rate of fatal accidents, since that's the most concerning, ignoring accidents that cause a casualty as I don't know the method for gathering that data off hand. One could glean a lot of info from that. Here's some rough numbers I gathered, and please forgive the naive approach to my data gathering to express a point:

Average miles driven/person[0]: 13,000 Average fatalities/year[1]: 37,000 Approximate number of licensed drivers[2]: 231,652,000

I don't have numbers for self-driving cars and the number of accidents, but regardless, would it perform the same with the same number of miles driven per car. Keep in mind that self-driving cars currently aren't navigating in all circumstances and will beep to make the human take control again. At least with Tesla.

[0] In 2019, there were almost 229 million licensed drivers in the United States. (Source: https://www.asirt.org/safe-travel/road-safety-facts/) [1] Over 37,000 Americans die in automobile crashes per year. More than 90 people die in accidents every day. (Source: https://www.thewanderingrv.com/car-accident-statistics/) [2] https://hedgescompany.com/blog/2018/10/number-of-licensed-dr...

Re: Where are the robotic bricklayers?

#562

Post by pottertheotter » Sat, Aug 07, 2021, 8:20 PM UTC

bserge wrote: post #277

pottertheotter wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find this comment so out of touch with the history of the world. Would you have us stuck back at the art of knocking rocks together to create fire since the people who created matches and lighters had so much contempt for the rock knockers? If anyone has contempt, it's this line of thought. What are we if we aren't trying to move forward--solve problems, invent, and improve lives? A few weeks back I came across Had…

Why not build the CNC router? It's a surprisingly simple machine, you could build one of any size yourself. There's even open source firmware and designs around. Bonus points for making it double as a laser etcher/cutter :D

I absolutely would if I had both more time and experience with some of the skills involved. It would take me forever to do it myself.

Re: Where are the robotic bricklayers?

#563

Post by eru » Wed, Aug 11, 2021, 4:29 PM UTC

afrodc_ wrote: post #561

eru wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So far Google's self-driving cars have vastly fewer accidents than humans have per mile. Or what kind of performance are you interested in? I am sure, they could also be made to drive faster than humans and still be safer on average thanks to superior reflexes and foresight. But what do you mean by 'across the board'? As far sources, a web search gives many articles about safety of self driving cars. See eg https://w…

Sorry for the delay. I don't get notifications. Not sure how people are so active on here with communication. Maybe you or someone could recommend a way? Anyways: > But what do you mean by 'across the board'? By that I mean across all of the people driving in the US and their rate of incidence. For example, average miles driven, the amount of drivers and the rate of accidents. I think the most intriguing detail could…

Just to be clear: when I say self-driving, I mean whatever Waymo is doing. Tesla has assisted driving at best at the moment. Waymo is aiming for true self-driving.

Looking at fatalities would make the analysis easier, but when I last checked, Waymo hadn't driven enough miles to make a good comparison possible on that metric.

(They haven't killed anyone yet, but neither would the average human driver have done so, yet.)

So we would need to look at less dramatic accidents.

Re: Where are the robotic bricklayers?

#564

Post by afrodc_ » Fri, Aug 20, 2021, 6:47 PM UTC

eru wrote: post #563

afrodc_ wrote: post #561

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry for the delay. I don't get notifications. Not sure how people are so active on here with communication. Maybe you or someone could recommend a way? Anyways: > But what do you mean by 'across the board'? By that I mean across all of the people driving in the US and their rate of incidence. For example, average miles driven, the amount of drivers and the rate of accidents. I think the most intriguing detail could…

Just to be clear: when I say self-driving, I mean whatever Waymo is doing. Tesla has assisted driving at best at the moment. Waymo is aiming for true self-driving. Looking at fatalities would make the analysis easier, but when I last checked, Waymo hadn't driven enough miles to make a good comparison possible on that metric. (They haven't killed anyone yet, but neither would the average human driver have done so, yet…

Yes I think what you're saying is accurate. My apprehension is the lack of concrete data we have for comparison at the time to whole heartedly put my life in the hands of engineers, for this particular thing. I do, however, look forward to a well vetted, tested and regulated, automated driving future.