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> you don't put a robot in the kitchen. You turn the kitchen into a robot. That was my thinking too after reading the article. Why jump through all those hoops

> you don't put a robot in the kitchen. You turn the kitchen into a robot. That was my thinking too after reading the article. Why jump through all those hoops, trying to get a robot mimicking us getting around the house and instead just build smarter, more capable appliances. E.g.: - having cupboards that double as dishwashers (the robot does the sorting and drying...) - having wardrobes that double as washing machines (the robot does the sorting and drying...) - having trash bins that do the seperation, maybe even compression But in any of those cases, the "robot" could be a grappler on a track that never leaves the casing of the appliance

candiodari 8y ago
This is exactly why robots are so expensive. Let's take a simpler example. Let's say you want sun tracking on a solar power installation. You could of course use mechanical linkages, or individual motors, or a combination. This is what's done now, and it's actually a decent part of the cost (so much it's often not done, or people do ridiculous things, like building a 10x10 meter solar panel so you only have to have one huge tracker). Think about a robot going around that can aim a single solar panel to the sun in 30 seconds. That robot can do 120 aims per hour, and can keep ~400 solar panels at 96%+ efficiency by going around constantly. A collection of such robots provides redundancy (like humans do, if you've got more than one). Such a solar tracker costs ~$200 at scale per solar panel. Mechanical solutions are cheaper up front, but you'll be fixing them weekly. So a robot that can do this can sell for ~$50000 and be profitable from day 1 (because it replaces capital expenditure). There'll be way less to fix and you can probably just take the robot back to the factory while providing a replacement onsite, which would be a fantasy with the motor based solution. Or you could have N+2 or higher redundancy for large sites and come by for robot replacements once a year providing constant coverage essentially free. The same with your kitchen. Having a general capable robot can use a lot of equipment to accomplish a great many tasks. Such a robot even means that the difference between a cheap and an expensive, say, dishwasher, disappears to an extent. The most expensive dishwasher won't match the comfort of a cheap one + a robot, and the same is true for all other appliances. Given that how much is it allowed to cost ? 5000$ seems like a lower bound. I'd be willing to pay that, which usually means others are willing to pay 100x that, even if that seems a bit much (in the West though, perhaps not as much).
- Robelius 8y ago
  >Mechanical solutions are cheaper up front, but you'll be fixing them weekly. So a robot that can do this can sell for ~$50000 and be profitable from day 1 Aren't you ignoring potential reliability issues of a robot though? A lot more moving parts in a robot than a simple motor on a pivot point.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

candiodari 8y ago

This is exactly why robots are so expensive. Let's take a simpler example. Let's say you want sun tracking on a solar power installation. You could of course use mechanical linkages, or individual motors, or a combination. This is what's done now, and it's actually a decent part of the cost (so much it's often not done, or people do ridiculous things, like building a 10x10 meter solar panel so you only have to have one huge tracker). Think about a robot going around that can aim a single solar panel to the sun in 30 seconds. That robot can do 120 aims per hour, and can keep ~400 solar panels at 96%+ efficiency by going around constantly. A collection of such robots provides redundancy (like humans do, if you've got more than one). Such a solar tracker costs ~$200 at scale per solar panel. Mechanical solutions are cheaper up front, but you'll be fixing them weekly. So a robot that can do this can sell for ~$50000 and be profitable from day 1 (because it replaces capital expenditure). There'll be way less to fix and you can probably just take the robot back to the factory while providing a replacement onsite, which would be a fantasy with the motor based solution. Or you could have N+2 or higher redundancy for large sites and come by for robot replacements once a year providing constant coverage essentially free. The same with your kitchen. Having a general capable robot can use a lot of equipment to accomplish a great many tasks. Such a robot even means that the difference between a cheap and an expensive, say, dishwasher, disappears to an extent. The most expensive dishwasher won't match the comfort of a cheap one + a robot, and the same is true for all other appliances. Given that how much is it allowed to cost ? 5000$ seems like a lower bound. I'd be willing to pay that, which usually means others are willing to pay 100x that, even if that seems a bit much (in the West though, perhaps not as much).

Robelius 8y ago
>Mechanical solutions are cheaper up front, but you'll be fixing them weekly. So a robot that can do this can sell for ~$50000 and be profitable from day 1 Aren't you ignoring potential reliability issues of a robot though? A lot more moving parts in a robot than a simple motor on a pivot point.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]