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Apple explores home robotics as potential 'next big thing'

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Re: Apple explores home robotics as potential 'next big thing'

#61

Post by rrr_oh_man »

guhidalg wrote: post #51
rrr_oh_man wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could get yourself a drying cabinet (basically a closet with an A/C inside).

That could handle items on hangers, but I'm talking about folding underwear, shorts, T-shirts, pants, etc... That requires careful manipulation.

I used to think so, too, but solved this the following:

Hanging EVERYTHING. Not only shirts and jackets, but also t-shirts, pants, shorts.

This leaves one drawer each for socks and underwear, which both is not horrible from a laundry management perspetive.

Re: Apple explores home robotics as potential 'next big thing'

#62

Post by canthonytucci »

newhotelowner wrote: post #17

I want something that cleans my bathroom and toilet. I will buy it for my business and will pay 20-30k/year. Also, something to Clean my dishes (Load in the dishwasher, turn it on, and put it away). Doing my laundry - load, wash and fold. Mow the lawn.

If you replace enough of your cabinets with dishwashers you never need to put dishes away again.

Re: Apple explores home robotics as potential 'next big thing'

#63

Post by [deleted] »

7thaccount wrote: post #34
paxys wrote: post #21

I know being late to the game and doing the tech "right" in terms of design and usability is kinda Apple's thing, but lately it seems like they have been only picking areas that weren't successful for a reason, like insurmountable technical difficulties or lack of customer interest, and no amount of Apple's design or marketing magic can fix that. See – self driving, AR/VR, smart speakers, folding phones, now home rob…

I also can't imagine a home robotics use case that I would get excited over. Can anyone think of anything? I would guess any new product would be more complex, less efficient, and a security risk. It'll be cool and trendy for a few months and then die off. Just like the Alexa and Google speakers that can tell you the weather or adjust your lights...is it REALLY that useful outside of entertaining your nieces and neph…

[deleted]

Re: Apple explores home robotics as potential 'next big thing'

#64

Post by kccqzy »

crabbone wrote: post #36
doubled112 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the issue is that smart home devices didn't do anything I couldn't already do, but a physical switch is faster than arguing with the computer. Hey Google, can you turn off the baby bedroom light? I'm sorry, I don't know that device.

There's also profiteering and security issues. Thermostat that wants to connect to "cloud" and needs to know my street address, my name etc.? -- Not happening. Companies selling "smart" devices instantly overcomplicated relatively simple appliances making them beyond DIY repair level, and, on top of it, wanted to sell service of supporting these overly complicated devices. It's just very hard to see the benefit, when…

> it just doesn't save that much money, even if it works well

You should see how wasteful typical American households are when they use a dumb thermometer. The best energy-saving feature is simply at-home vs away-from-home detection. I don't want my HVAC at home to run when I'm away at work or worse away at vacation, unless the temperature is really extreme. This easily saves me hundreds of dollars for a month-long vacation.

> Making roombas deal with furniture or large objects left on the floor seems like mission impossible

Roomba the company hasn't innovated in years. Switch to a different brand like Roborocks. Also don't choose models with a camera for privacy and performance reasons: lidar is much better.

Re: Apple explores home robotics as potential 'next big thing'

#65

Post by rubatuga »

ado__dev wrote: post #7
doubled112 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the issue is that smart home devices didn't do anything I couldn't already do, but a physical switch is faster than arguing with the computer. Hey Google, can you turn off the baby bedroom light? I'm sorry, I don't know that device.

I used to have a dozen or so Google Home devices for all sort of automation, but have mostly given up on it. I feel like Google is going to kill these any day now, the Google Assistant on them has been getting dumber and dumber. Where in the past, it would do its best to provide an answer, now for 99% of queries it just says "idk how to help with that." So the only thing these devices are used for these days in my ho…

I've totally disabled my entire smart home ecosystem. Philips hue thankfully has a hubless fallback (with the Zigbee remote). I just hate the unreliable nature of wireless devices, and having to manage an account for every accessory (Philips hue account, wemo account, iCloud account, etc.). Matter/thread which was supposed to be a smart home revolution turned out to be a crapshoot requiring proprietary Thread border routers.

Re: Apple explores home robotics as potential 'next big thing'

#66

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

freitzkriesler2 wrote: post #55
judah wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The company that builds a robot that can do household chores will be very, very rich. I want a bot that can do laundry (load washer, load dryer, fold, put away), do the dishes (rinse, put in dishwasher, put clean dishes away, wash pots & pans), vacuum floors, dust, clean up messes, empty garbage bins, take out the trash, mow my lawn, trim bushes, clean tables, mop floors, make meals, cleans toilets and sinks and bath…

Pretty much this. We pay a cleaning service for the privilege to vacuum and dust. A robot that does it for me that I can buy for $15k and last a decade? Id be all over it.

Robots can already vacuum and mop floors pretty decently for No one is building a robot to dust your antique china collection anytime soon.

Re: Apple explores home robotics as potential 'next big thing'

#67

Post by CharlieDigital »

nostromo wrote: post #41
7thaccount wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also can't imagine a home robotics use case that I would get excited over. Can anyone think of anything? I would guess any new product would be more complex, less efficient, and a security risk. It'll be cool and trendy for a few months and then die off. Just like the Alexa and Google speakers that can tell you the weather or adjust your lights...is it REALLY that useful outside of entertaining your nieces and neph…

I'm shocked by your comment. Everyone that doesn't enjoy cleaning, cooking, doing laundry, mowing the lawn, or taking out the trash would LOVE a home robot that really works. Of course, these are very hard problems to take on -- much harder than a "smart" light switch -- but the market is absolutely there.

    > Everyone that doesn't enjoy cleaning, cooking, doing laundry, mowing the lawn, or taking out the trash would LOVE a home robot that really works.
We are far, far away from any of the remaining tedious parts of those things being done competently by a robot.

- Dishes: dishwashers already do the majority of the labor intensive part.

- Laundry: the washer already does the labor intensive part.

- Mowing: if you don't trust robot cars, you shouldn't trust a moving robot with blades attached.

- Taking out the trash: I don't see buying a multi-thousand dollar robot to save me the 20 seconds it takes to walk the garbage out.

Even robot vacuums are kinda terrible.

Re: Apple explores home robotics as potential 'next big thing'

#68

Post by azinman2 »

nostromo wrote: post #38
paxys wrote: post #21

I know being late to the game and doing the tech "right" in terms of design and usability is kinda Apple's thing, but lately it seems like they have been only picking areas that weren't successful for a reason, like insurmountable technical difficulties or lack of customer interest, and no amount of Apple's design or marketing magic can fix that. See – self driving, AR/VR, smart speakers, folding phones, now home rob…

I like that Apple is taking on big hard futuristic problems, like AR/VR, AI, and home robotics. But from a business perspective it seems unlikely to be successful. Apple could "easily" sell a luxury car and TVs and print many billions of dollars right away. They wouldn't need unproven tech -- they could just use their design skills along with vertical integration to have very nice products that people would want to b…

Sounds like you’ve never been in a Waymo. It’s so much better than an Uber it’s not even funny, and that’s worth many billions right there.

Re: Apple explores home robotics as potential 'next big thing'

#70

Post by nxobject »

paxys wrote: post #21

I know being late to the game and doing the tech "right" in terms of design and usability is kinda Apple's thing, but lately it seems like they have been only picking areas that weren't successful for a reason, like insurmountable technical difficulties or lack of customer interest, and no amount of Apple's design or marketing magic can fix that. See – self driving, AR/VR, smart speakers, folding phones, now home rob…

For what it's worth, I don't know whether we'll ever know all of the Jobs-era skunkworks projects that were shut down before they ever saw the limelight. The lid on the rumors was much tighter back then.
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