> That's true. In fact, it seems like cosying up to DoD is the only way for a robotics company to really get anywhere or stay afloat in the long run. This shoul

> That's true. In fact, it seems like cosying up to DoD is the only way for a robotics company to really get anywhere or stay afloat in the long run. This shouldn't be true, yet seems to be. Why? I don't see the problem with it. It's not like YCombinator or other VCs are going to pay for years and years of research. The DoD can afford to throw money at robotics projects and fund the grunt work of getting the technology developed. Spending a billion dollars researching and developing a walking robot or whatever is a great use of money if it means keeping a bunch of humans out of dangerous situations. For everybody else it's a cool idea, but not useful enough that they'd pay for it. Better to let DoD pay for it, and wait until that technology makes it into other products.