Earlier quoted context omitted.
You might have a significant portion of those customers that are into that
Castration via motorized actuator? Pretty niche kink, I'd say.
cheaper than getting bottom surgery
Launch HN: K-Scale Labs (YC W24) – Open-Source Humanoid Robots
91–98 of 98 posts
Re: Launch HN: K-Scale Labs (YC W24) – Open-Source Humanoid Robots
#92Cool. But this looks like an expensive toy. The stuff of nightmares is this being adapted by the DoD. I can almost imagine your website as a scene in the prologue of a terminator like movie. Nightmare 2 is this becomes a companion of some sort. Detroit Become Human goes into this. You have a theme of the robots basically wanting freedom. Which throws out a moral conundrum, if someone buys an AGI enabled bot just to b…
An early Terminator prototype is pretty much useless unless you can field an army of them all at once and use them as shock troops.
As an infiltrator, it's worthless because it's not fooling anyone with its bizarre uncanny valley gait, and as an assassin either a drone swarm or human snipers are more efficient.
While sturdier than a human, if drones can take out tanks they'll be able to take out Terminators as well.
Re: Launch HN: K-Scale Labs (YC W24) – Open-Source Humanoid Robots
#93Congrats on the launch! Your current market seems to be "niche toys for rich tech people" and the future market seems very uncertain. I am impressed that you were able to get funding for this idea. How do you get around the "solution in search of a problem (SISP)" objection from VCs? In fact, your founding story indicates that you just liked the technology meaning you had to work backwards to find the business case.…
I have a pretty bad mental model of how most VCs think, but I think good VCs will fund smart people who demonstrate extreme conviction, regardless of how they initially size the market. The opportunity cost for me doing K-Scale is making quite a bit of money at Tesla or Meta, so assuming I am not acting irrationally, either I have extreme conviction or I am a masochist. In my experience, VCs are pretty bad at telling…
I'd say if you have a marketing problem do whatever the heck you can to get Rory Sutherland to take a look at your product, the man is a force of nature when it comes to unconventional marketing and from him I've learned the crucial distinction between relational and transactional capitalism.
And if you ever make it to the (multi)unicorn status because of him, don't forget yours truly. :)
Re: Launch HN: K-Scale Labs (YC W24) – Open-Source Humanoid Robots
#94I have some technical questions about feet. Human feet have metatarsophalangeal joints connecting the toes to the rest of the foot. But humanoid robots don't have these (at least, the vast majority don't). Why? These joints are very useful. Also, the bottom of the human foot is soft and has thousands of nerve endings. Can we really expect robots to get anywhere near human mobility performance without this level of co…
There are certainly things a robot can't do with rigid feet, like climbing a tree or rock face.
But anything a human can do with rigid shoes like wooden clogs should be possible. Whatever happens inside the clog stays inside.
Re: Launch HN: K-Scale Labs (YC W24) – Open-Source Humanoid Robots
#95Cool. But this looks like an expensive toy. The stuff of nightmares is this being adapted by the DoD. I can almost imagine your website as a scene in the prologue of a terminator like movie. Nightmare 2 is this becomes a companion of some sort. Detroit Become Human goes into this. You have a theme of the robots basically wanting freedom. Which throws out a moral conundrum, if someone buys an AGI enabled bot just to b…
As much as DoD might like expensive toys, they have better options than an open-source project.
Re: Launch HN: K-Scale Labs (YC W24) – Open-Source Humanoid Robots
#96"The first step towards a fully autonomous future."
Sounds like a very sad life.
Re: Launch HN: K-Scale Labs (YC W24) – Open-Source Humanoid Robots
#97I have some technical questions about feet. Human feet have metatarsophalangeal joints connecting the toes to the rest of the foot. But humanoid robots don't have these (at least, the vast majority don't). Why? These joints are very useful. Also, the bottom of the human foot is soft and has thousands of nerve endings. Can we really expect robots to get anywhere near human mobility performance without this level of co…
There are certainly things a robot can't do with rigid feet, like climbing a tree or rock face. But anything a human can do with rigid shoes like wooden clogs should be possible. Whatever happens inside the clog stays inside.
That sounds plausible but it is actually true? When I'm walking in the woods the ground is very uneven, has different friction between the ground and my feet, is sometimes soft, sometimes hard. Yes I have flat shoes or boots on. But they're just normally flat, not rigid. And my feet can still feel the ground beneath me, through the shoes. That helps me balance, know where to put my weight, etc. Mostly subconsciously. I almost never fall over, too.
My concern is all the sophistication of the human anatomy isn't just useful, it's essential for something that's going to be less trouble than its worth.
Re: Launch HN: K-Scale Labs (YC W24) – Open-Source Humanoid Robots
#98I couldn't find any video if it walking in real world. Looking at mechanical design I'm suspect it cannot walk reliably no matter how much you train it in simulator.