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You just did see a video of one of the most advanced prototypes(!) of a robot and you think it will fail because such things are not yet seen in mass market? So

You just did see a video of one of the most advanced prototypes(!) of a robot and you think it will fail because such things are not yet seen in mass market? Somehow that made me smile :)

jbrun 19y ago
How many planes have you seen in people's driveways? The mass market is not a sign of success, all products have to start somewhere. These robots will remain the realm of military and rescue missions because they have so many damn moving parts. Quality control is what drives up prices and quality control is exponentially linked to moving parts. So my argument is more along the lines of: "This robot is technologically amazing and promising, but is built upon a foundation of complexity which inexorably leads to limitations".
- coffeeaddicted 19y ago
  I don't think the reason you don't see planes in people's driveways is because of their complexity. Nearly all consumer products are increasing their complexity each year and there's no reason to think that this trends stops. Just take a look at any modern car and compare it with an old one. If people want such robots enough those robots will be produced for the mass market. And the first application which did spring to my mind immediately was transport. There are so many situations where an automated transport, which does not depend on wheels or rails, would be useful that I can see a huge market for this. The first mass market might be in the industry. But once prices fall there are also lots of possibilities for this to reach the consumer market. Certainly normal people also can have uses for such transports. Be it as intelligent luggage, as a tool for the garden (replacing the wheelbarrow) or simply as a very cool toy for the kids (just think of riding those things!). This is a completely new way of automating transports and so I expect it to have an extremely large impact in the following years.

You just did see a video of one of the most advanced prototypes(!) of a robot and you think it will fail because such things are not yet seen in mass market? Somehow that made me smile :)

jbrun 19y ago

How many planes have you seen in people's driveways? The mass market is not a sign of success, all products have to start somewhere. These robots will remain the realm of military and rescue missions because they have so many damn moving parts. Quality control is what drives up prices and quality control is exponentially linked to moving parts. So my argument is more along the lines of: "This robot is technologically amazing and promising, but is built upon a foundation of complexity which inexorably leads to limitations".

coffeeaddicted 19y ago
I don't think the reason you don't see planes in people's driveways is because of their complexity. Nearly all consumer products are increasing their complexity each year and there's no reason to think that this trends stops. Just take a look at any modern car and compare it with an old one. If people want such robots enough those robots will be produced for the mass market. And the first application which did spring to my mind immediately was transport. There are so many situations where an automated transport, which does not depend on wheels or rails, would be useful that I can see a huge market for this. The first mass market might be in the industry. But once prices fall there are also lots of possibilities for this to reach the consumer market. Certainly normal people also can have uses for such transports. Be it as intelligent luggage, as a tool for the garden (replacing the wheelbarrow) or simply as a very cool toy for the kids (just think of riding those things!). This is a completely new way of automating transports and so I expect it to have an extremely large impact in the following years.