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Some humble things I can imagine a robot doing: - Mow my lawn - Stain my deck - Paint my walls - Roof my house - Spread moss killer on my roof - Clean my

Some humble things I can imagine a robot doing: - Mow my lawn - Stain my deck - Paint my walls - Roof my house - Spread moss killer on my roof - Clean my gutters - Spray Raid into hornet nests - Hunt down and destroy dandelions Maybe some of these I buy it, and others the painters/roofers buy it. But it seems like there is a lot of opportunity here as hardware prices fall.

cm2187 11y ago
Or something even more brave than spraying Raid on a hornet nest: do your ironing for you!
beambot 11y ago
What's the killer app that single-handedly gets you to fork over $30k for a reliable robot? The "robot app store" idea alone has never worked for driving adoption... even smart phones originated with phone calls.
- AndrewKemendo 11y ago
  >What's the killer app that single-handedly gets you to fork over $30k for a reliable robot? It would have to be absolutely required for your life at that price. The car is the closest to this given that price point and many people forgo that, so I can't think of anything that you would absolutely need a robot for.
  - beambot 11y ago
    Exactly... I've looked at a lot of these opportunities -- see profile! I mean, I did my PhD on in-home healthcare robots! There are a few good applications in healthcare that can (and do!) justify the expense of current robots. Still, it's often easier to target concentrations of people where you can cost-share a robot (eg. nursing homes) rather than operating in individual homes. But problems in nursing homes abound too: abysmal connectivity (no WiFi!), antiquated enterprise sales; excessive regulatory costs (FDA), etc. Maybe costs will come down... but most "good" applications require manipulation, which makes a "general purpose" robot much more expensive than an autonomous car's sensor suites.
  - increment_i 11y ago
    A highly reliable, rock solid robot nanny would easily fetch 30k and sell millions. This must be, what, at least a century away? I'm probably venturing into Jetsons territory here...
    - AndrewKemendo 11y ago
      That's an AGI level capabilities in a robot that would have to not-exceed human strength levels (so they don't accidentally crush the baby) and I don't even know if it's worth discussing.
- djrogers 11y ago
  > even smart phones originated with phone calls. Sure, but they didn't become a must-have item in every pocket until the App Store came along. There was a big jump between selling 500,000 'smart phones'/yr and selling 500,000 per hour...
  - paulryanrogers 11y ago
    Blackberry was doing well before app stores.
- ericd 11y ago
  The first iPhone was actually pretty bad at making calls... the internet/email in your pocket was the killer app there.
  - lobotryas 11y ago
    Were they? You could get internet and email on blackberry and nokia phones before the iphone came along. I think what drove iphone sales (besides the apple brand) was the futuristic look of only having one large screen and no physical keyboard.
    - ericd 11y ago
      Those could browse the web, but the iPhone had a full, non-neutered web browser, which I don't think the others really had. The intuitive/natural multi-touch interface certainly helped with browsing. Not sure why I got downvoted for the above... the first iPhone was legitimately not good at phone calls. A big part of that was that the AT&T network wasn't up to snuff at the time, though, and AT&T was the only option.
- xanderstrike 11y ago
  I don't want a robotic domestic servant, I want my existing appliances to take on more responsibility. I'd pay a few extra thousand for a car that drives itself, or a closet washer/dryer that automatically washes, folds, and stores my clothes, or a fridge that can make basic meals, or a vacuum that cleans my house while I'm out. Maybe a humanoid robot that does these things will exist one day, but I'd rather have a home that does all these things frictionlesly than share my space with a robot.
  - mistermann 11y ago
    > washer/dryer that automatically washes, folds, and stores my clothes This would sell like hotcakes. Perhaps clothes would need some sort of an RFID tag built in to identify their specs (not sure the cost on that) but I would gladly pay a couple grand for a dryer that folds clothes.
    - tiplus 11y ago
      It might be enough to include a cheap spectrometer to estimate the material composition. From this you should be able to guesstimate a suitable program. You could even spot and classify stains, AI to the rescue. There must be existing solutions for large scale industrial laundry handling. A robotic closet that lets you wear your favorite shirt every day... fresh and clean.
  - sciurus 11y ago
    Neato or irobot will sell you a robot vacuum.
  - tremguy 11y ago
    This might well be what we're looking for: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/93169/20151008/washing-machine-future-will-wash-dry-folds-clothes.htm http://www.techtimes.com/articles/93169/20151008/washing-mac...
- zardo 11y ago
  Backyard farming and cooking.
- pjungwir 11y ago
  If you are replacing a bunch of employees, then a house painting company or roofing company might pay $30k. For that price I think it's going to be sold to a company that earns money with it. Another thing I left off my initial list: surely agriculture must have tons of uses for robotics, with enough scale to justify higher prices.
  - istjohn 11y ago
    Turns out you can already lease humanoids for just a couple hundred a week to perform agricultural tasks. It'd be pretty hard to undercut that price.
    - spacecowboy_lon 11y ago
      And a robot that even 50% as adaptable as a human is to teh environment is a long way enough
  - glaberficken 11y ago
    >surely agriculture must have tons of uses for robotics, with enough scale to justify higher prices. Agriculture apparently already uses robots https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/06/22/google-didnt-lead-the-self-driving-vehicle-revolution-john-deere-did/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/06/22...
- pjc50 11y ago
  At $30k it's not going to happen. At $3k it's in the range of expensive hobby equipment or gardening machinery, so people might start buying them to show off if it's even slightly useful.
theklub 11y ago
I need one that picks up thousands of acorns.
sciurus 11y ago
You can buy gutter cleaning and lawn mowing robots today.

cm2187 11y ago

Or something even more brave than spraying Raid on a hornet nest: do your ironing for you!

beambot 11y ago

What's the killer app that single-handedly gets you to fork over $30k for a reliable robot? The "robot app store" idea alone has never worked for driving adoption... even smart phones originated with phone calls.

AndrewKemendo 11y ago
>What's the killer app that single-handedly gets you to fork over $30k for a reliable robot? It would have to be absolutely required for your life at that price. The car is the closest to this given that price point and many people forgo that, so I can't think of anything that you would absolutely need a robot for.
- beambot 11y ago
  Exactly... I've looked at a lot of these opportunities -- see profile! I mean, I did my PhD on in-home healthcare robots! There are a few good applications in healthcare that can (and do!) justify the expense of current robots. Still, it's often easier to target concentrations of people where you can cost-share a robot (eg. nursing homes) rather than operating in individual homes. But problems in nursing homes abound too: abysmal connectivity (no WiFi!), antiquated enterprise sales; excessive regulatory costs (FDA), etc. Maybe costs will come down... but most "good" applications require manipulation, which makes a "general purpose" robot much more expensive than an autonomous car's sensor suites.
- increment_i 11y ago
  A highly reliable, rock solid robot nanny would easily fetch 30k and sell millions. This must be, what, at least a century away? I'm probably venturing into Jetsons territory here...
  - AndrewKemendo 11y ago
    That's an AGI level capabilities in a robot that would have to not-exceed human strength levels (so they don't accidentally crush the baby) and I don't even know if it's worth discussing.
djrogers 11y ago
> even smart phones originated with phone calls. Sure, but they didn't become a must-have item in every pocket until the App Store came along. There was a big jump between selling 500,000 'smart phones'/yr and selling 500,000 per hour...
- paulryanrogers 11y ago
  Blackberry was doing well before app stores.
ericd 11y ago
The first iPhone was actually pretty bad at making calls... the internet/email in your pocket was the killer app there.
- lobotryas 11y ago
  Were they? You could get internet and email on blackberry and nokia phones before the iphone came along. I think what drove iphone sales (besides the apple brand) was the futuristic look of only having one large screen and no physical keyboard.
  - ericd 11y ago
    Those could browse the web, but the iPhone had a full, non-neutered web browser, which I don't think the others really had. The intuitive/natural multi-touch interface certainly helped with browsing. Not sure why I got downvoted for the above... the first iPhone was legitimately not good at phone calls. A big part of that was that the AT&T network wasn't up to snuff at the time, though, and AT&T was the only option.
xanderstrike 11y ago
I don't want a robotic domestic servant, I want my existing appliances to take on more responsibility. I'd pay a few extra thousand for a car that drives itself, or a closet washer/dryer that automatically washes, folds, and stores my clothes, or a fridge that can make basic meals, or a vacuum that cleans my house while I'm out. Maybe a humanoid robot that does these things will exist one day, but I'd rather have a home that does all these things frictionlesly than share my space with a robot.
- mistermann 11y ago
  > washer/dryer that automatically washes, folds, and stores my clothes This would sell like hotcakes. Perhaps clothes would need some sort of an RFID tag built in to identify their specs (not sure the cost on that) but I would gladly pay a couple grand for a dryer that folds clothes.
  - tiplus 11y ago
    It might be enough to include a cheap spectrometer to estimate the material composition. From this you should be able to guesstimate a suitable program. You could even spot and classify stains, AI to the rescue. There must be existing solutions for large scale industrial laundry handling. A robotic closet that lets you wear your favorite shirt every day... fresh and clean.
- sciurus 11y ago
  Neato or irobot will sell you a robot vacuum.
- tremguy 11y ago
  This might well be what we're looking for: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/93169/20151008/washing-machine-future-will-wash-dry-folds-clothes.htm http://www.techtimes.com/articles/93169/20151008/washing-mac...
zardo 11y ago
Backyard farming and cooking.
pjungwir 11y ago
If you are replacing a bunch of employees, then a house painting company or roofing company might pay $30k. For that price I think it's going to be sold to a company that earns money with it. Another thing I left off my initial list: surely agriculture must have tons of uses for robotics, with enough scale to justify higher prices.
- istjohn 11y ago
  Turns out you can already lease humanoids for just a couple hundred a week to perform agricultural tasks. It'd be pretty hard to undercut that price.
  - spacecowboy_lon 11y ago
    And a robot that even 50% as adaptable as a human is to teh environment is a long way enough
- glaberficken 11y ago
  >surely agriculture must have tons of uses for robotics, with enough scale to justify higher prices. Agriculture apparently already uses robots https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/06/22/google-didnt-lead-the-self-driving-vehicle-revolution-john-deere-did/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/06/22...
pjc50 11y ago
At $30k it's not going to happen. At $3k it's in the range of expensive hobby equipment or gardening machinery, so people might start buying them to show off if it's even slightly useful.

theklub 11y ago

I need one that picks up thousands of acorns.

sciurus 11y ago

You can buy gutter cleaning and lawn mowing robots today.