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I have a robot vacuum, but: it doesn't do corners. It doesn't do steps. It doesn't get along with cats. It's orders of magnitude less effective than a human vac

I have a robot vacuum, but: it doesn't do corners. It doesn't do steps. It doesn't get along with cats. It's orders of magnitude less effective than a human vacuum pilot. Yet this is also a problem that's orders of magnitude easier to solve, yes?

bastawhiz 9y ago
In fairness, cars move in far fewer ways than a vacuum. Vacuums need to make sharp turns and get into tight spaces on unmarked, uneven surfaces. Cars move forward and slightly to each side for almost all of their movement. Cars also drive on mostly flat surfaces that are well marked and mapped.
- dredmorbius 9y ago
  Robot vacuums put very few lives at risk and operate in a manifestly simple environment. They literally navigate by heading off in random directions until the crash into something, then turn. Self-driving cars are an entirely different domain. (I'm referring to devices/products such as the Roomba.)
- kuschku 9y ago
  You haven't seen an italian town. Cars make sharp turns and get into tight spaces on unmarked, uneven surfaces, with pedestrians walking everywhere around the car. That's what a self-driving car needs to support. All road rules out of the window, tiny roads you canbarely navigate, and due to a festival everything is redirected around and all your maps are useless, you're told to drive a short bit through a park because there's a parade on the road, the only way to tell where you can and can't drive being a nonstandard sign and a police officer telling you. This is a real life use case of driving, as given in many European towns. For additional difficulty, do a small Weihnachtsmarkt in a rural place, where you'll have the same, but with so much snow you can barely see anything.
  - kazinator 9y ago
    How well could you, human, vacuum a house if all you were given was a Roomba robot's chassis controlled by you via joystick, and maybe a camera mounted in the robot? There is a physical challenge arising from the form factor, such that your intelligence won't help. Those robots don't do stairs and tight places very well simply because the hardware is that way. In driving, the robot has the same controls as the human. It can turn the wheels, brake, apply gas. That basic playing field is level. It's all about how well you make the AI see and understand, and translate that into turning the wheel, changing forward/reverse, and hitting gas/brakes.
TeMPOraL 9y ago
Are you willing to pay for more? Robovacuums seem to have hit a sweet spot - they do just enough on their own to justify their costs by saving you time and effort. Solving the corner cases you mentioned is possible, but there is not a strong enough economic incentive for that.
- contrarian_ 9y ago
  It's a winner-takes-all market, so there are absolutely strong economic incentives to build the best robovacuum control software.
  - lukas099 9y ago
    Why is it a winner-takes-all market?

bastawhiz 9y ago

In fairness, cars move in far fewer ways than a vacuum. Vacuums need to make sharp turns and get into tight spaces on unmarked, uneven surfaces. Cars move forward and slightly to each side for almost all of their movement. Cars also drive on mostly flat surfaces that are well marked and mapped.

dredmorbius 9y ago
Robot vacuums put very few lives at risk and operate in a manifestly simple environment. They literally navigate by heading off in random directions until the crash into something, then turn. Self-driving cars are an entirely different domain. (I'm referring to devices/products such as the Roomba.)
kuschku 9y ago
You haven't seen an italian town. Cars make sharp turns and get into tight spaces on unmarked, uneven surfaces, with pedestrians walking everywhere around the car. That's what a self-driving car needs to support. All road rules out of the window, tiny roads you canbarely navigate, and due to a festival everything is redirected around and all your maps are useless, you're told to drive a short bit through a park because there's a parade on the road, the only way to tell where you can and can't drive being a nonstandard sign and a police officer telling you. This is a real life use case of driving, as given in many European towns. For additional difficulty, do a small Weihnachtsmarkt in a rural place, where you'll have the same, but with so much snow you can barely see anything.
- kazinator 9y ago
  How well could you, human, vacuum a house if all you were given was a Roomba robot's chassis controlled by you via joystick, and maybe a camera mounted in the robot? There is a physical challenge arising from the form factor, such that your intelligence won't help. Those robots don't do stairs and tight places very well simply because the hardware is that way. In driving, the robot has the same controls as the human. It can turn the wheels, brake, apply gas. That basic playing field is level. It's all about how well you make the AI see and understand, and translate that into turning the wheel, changing forward/reverse, and hitting gas/brakes.

TeMPOraL 9y ago

Are you willing to pay for more? Robovacuums seem to have hit a sweet spot - they do just enough on their own to justify their costs by saving you time and effort. Solving the corner cases you mentioned is possible, but there is not a strong enough economic incentive for that.

contrarian_ 9y ago
It's a winner-takes-all market, so there are absolutely strong economic incentives to build the best robovacuum control software.
- lukas099 9y ago
  Why is it a winner-takes-all market?