8 ms·

Show HN: I'm building a robot that cuts hair, starting with beard trims [video]

104 points by dopeboy 7y ago

chovy 7y ago
I paid $30 for a beard trim the other day.
dopeboy 7y ago
Hey everyone, founder of Buzz Robotics here. I'm a guy and getting a haircut is a pain. It takes too much time (appointment + waiting time + sitting time). It involves traveling to the one barber that knows our style. And it is expensive (~$65, on average, in SF). We envision a future where you sit down in a kiosk, swipe your card, and a robot performs a fast, clean, consistent, and most importantly, _SAFE_ haircut on you. All for half the usual cost. And your cut is saved in the cloud for use at any Buzz Robotics kiosk in the world. For the engineers in the crowd, that's a 6 degree of freedom robotic arm with a Wahl trimmer fitted at the end. The arm is provided by Haddington Dynamics (http://hdrobotic.com/ http://hdrobotic.com/). SDK is plain old JavaScript. The point cloud is supplied by a Pico Flexx camera using their C++ SDK. If the business case interests you, here's a pitch I gave at last week's OnDeck fellowship demo day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td7L3qREzqA&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td7L3qREzqA&feature=youtu.be Lastly, if this sounds interesting to you, reach out (arithmetic@gmail.com). Happy to grab coffee too if you're in the bay area.
- zepto 7y ago
  I think you’re going to need to invest a great deal in cybersecurity. This is essentially an unsupervised internet accessible surgical robot.
  - dopeboy 7y ago
    We totally agree, zepto. Though we're still perfecting the computer vision and path tracing pieces, that is squarely next on the agenda. We realize there's a lot of trust users are giving us and we intend to honor that.
- jgmmo 7y ago
  why not just buzz it yourself? A good buzzer is like 35 bucks in a kit, and then you get hundreds of 'free' buzzes, literally anytime you want. Plus no fear of a robot slitting your throat.
  - gargarplex 7y ago
    - As an animal it feels good to have someone else groom you - Actually getting the line perfect is not trivial, even if you're experienced - This brings us one step closer to The Jetsons, and I'm in favor
    - zepto 7y ago
      This isn’t someone else grooming you!
      - gargarplex 7y ago
        Unclear - c.f. Monkey and terry cloth mother studies.
        zepto 7y ago
        Do you confuse this robot with your mother?
  - yuy910616 7y ago
    hard to clean up. sometimes misses spots, etc. I try to buzz myself but it always doesn't look as good
  - nhebb 7y ago
    I did this a few weeks ago. I just quit a long tobacco habit, so I might have been a bit impulsive. For the most part, it turned out fine. I needed a second person to help trim the back, though. If you like a clean neckline, that's hard to do yourself. Anyway, I rather have a 1990's Flowbee (https://www.flowbee.com/ https://www.flowbee.com/) than a robot. I've played Fallout 3 and know what can happen.
- burkaman 7y ago
  Do haircuts really cost $65 in San Fransisco? That seems like a number somebody would make up to parody the high cost of living. ("$65 haircuts! $10 for a loaf of bread! $25 to see a movie!")
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - steffan 7y ago
    I've routinely paid that in Los Angeles as well
    - clort 7y ago
      In the UK I pay £5 for a scissor cut. Best barber I've ever been to, and he will chat but doesn't need to. It is not a fancy place, there are piles of vintage magazines, a daily local paper and the chair is well worn in (looks like he had two chairs in the past, I guess one broke because he just took it out and moved to the other one). I was recommended the place by a friend who took her kids there 25+ years ago. There is usually a queue on saturday mornings but I've never been there more than half an hour. I'm not sure I would go to a robot arm. I bet there are places in California that are similar. Who cuts the hair of the guys who clean the streets and empty the bins? I don't suppose they can afford $65 for a haircut..
      - jedberg 7y ago
        > Who cuts the hair of the guys who clean the streets and empty the bins? I don't suppose they can afford $65 for a haircut.. With the California housing crisis, this is solved by the fact that those folks don't live in SF. Many of them commute over an hour each way for those jobs. It's sort of a problem for us...
      - puranjay 7y ago
        Here in India, I have the option of going to a cheap barber who costs about $1.2 (yes), a slightly better place that costs about $3, and a top of the line place that costs $8.
- mempko 7y ago
  One pleasure of getting a haircut or beard trim is a good conversation. Maybe not for everyone but it would be missed with a robot.
  - zepto 7y ago
    Not if the robot has a conversational bot built in. This way they could make the haircut free by having the bot slip product endorsements into the conversation.
- nestorherre 7y ago
  Holy Molly! 65 bucks for a haircut? In Colombia they're around 3USD, and in Chile around 7USD. TBH that just seems like a ripoff.
  - SimbaOnSteroids 7y ago
    Higher cost of living, and until you figure out a way to cut my hair in the USA while you're in Colombia or Chile I will have to pay $20 a cut minimum, here in a low cost of living part of the USA.
    - okcando 7y ago
      A new use for those surgery robots that let surgeons work remotely. Now a haircut costs $165 and it's an automatic subscription. Colombian barber still gets $3 though. This is helping!
- euparkeria 7y ago
  Wow, in Brasil we pay roughly $6 in a haircut.
- kirktrue 7y ago
  I'm only half joking when I suggest you might consider re-shooting and/or re-editing the video to elide the human hand strangling (er, "steadying") the dummy. It doesn't elicit confidence or a positive connotation. That aside, as an introvert, but even as a beardless one, I have nothing but admiration for such efforts to remove human interaction! (Still only half joking.)
  - trevyn 7y ago
    On the other hand, if he’s recruiting, it might elicit “I can do that better!” from engineers!
  - sameers 7y ago
    or he could put the mannequin head over an actual human head.
- throwaway5752 7y ago
  This is a very cool project and a bad business idea. I cut my own hair with a Wahl trimmer. Have you gotten liability insurance quotes for this yet? I am not trying to be a buzzkill but you are going to knick ears, pull out small chunks of hair, and other minor trauma on customers if you try this. You want to have that liability insured and if not you might put yourself in personal financial or legal jeopardy, regardless of legal waivers (IANAL).
- joe_the_user 7y ago
  We envision a future where you sit down in a kiosk, swipe your card, and a robot performs a fast, clean, consistent, and most importantly, _SAFE_ haircut on you. How long are you expecting the research phase to take? I mean, honestly, trying avoid either snark or boosterism, this seems like a challenge akin to getting to level 5 self-driving cars but with a payoff a good deal less. I am both honestly interested in efforts to do things like this but also very much in awe at the hurdles such problems present. We don't have humanoid robots that easily occupy the same space with a human, in the fashion that humans interact with each other daily without one human swinging their elbow into the face of another. Solving that problem is a big deal (it holds back things like medical transport robots). Shaving a person seems a more intense version of this problem - the problem isn't the raw dexterity of the robot but it's ability adjust to and even anticipate a person's micro bodily adjustments (oh, also adjust to the unique physical properties of a given person hair, properties that can even by the part of the body - I have curly patches in places, etc). Despite my general pessimism here, I'd be interested in what tool you imagine could get there. Edit: And one could solve this problem also with something akin to auto-adjusting helmet, so you essentially extend the logic of the plastic guards that keep clippers a fixed distance from the head - the problem here is you'd wind-up building an extremely complex machine without much guarantee of giving a good haircut (the simple motions of a barber conceal an awareness of what their object is and it isn't hair all the same length - an average person use guarder clippers to get that and literally not pretty).
  - dopeboy 7y ago
    We're still figuring it out is the honest answer. Here are some learnings from this past year that address some of your points: * Robotic arms are getting better. They're becoming easy to interface with (I programmed the arm in the video using JavaScript) and they're getting cheaper (the arm in the video is $5k kit, $10k assembled). * CV technology has advanced significantly in the past couple years thanks to self-driving tech and facial recognition tech. These are advances that can be repurposed to this venture. * It's going to be baby steps. We mentioned starting with beards but we may even go easier and start with neck fuzz. It's going to be an iterative process and there might be some constraints involved on the UX side until we get better (e.g. asking the user to keep their face within a certain boundary).
maximente 7y ago
i'll sound like a luddite here, but i hope this never really gets to the point of replacing barbers and especially barber shops. barber shops are pretty unique places in that people are really chatty, and it doesn't really matter if you're e.g. a banker or fast food worker, you're still a part of the little community. it's cool to connect with people from all statuses and people tend to be really open, loose, good energy, plus you see the same characters all the time, so it's a mini community. yeah, it's pretty expensive but i personally enjoy that routine/non automated part of my life.
- bitwize 7y ago
  In the universe of The Stars My Destination, in which all humans have the power to instantaneously teleport ("jaunte"), land vehicles become a symbol of money, power, and status. The same will become true of human barbers in a world where home robots provide perfect haircuts for the cost of energy and upkeep: those with disposable income seeking a personalized, artisanal, handcrafted experience will frequent a barbershop while most of the hoi polloi will take advantage of the robots.
- bigyikes 7y ago
  Interesting. I would pay extra to not have to chat.
- rubicon33 7y ago
  Are you describing what you see in movies, or the reality for you? I pop into a supercuts and I'm out in less than 15 minutes. Minimal chatting.
  - dfsegoat 7y ago
    He is describing an "old school" barber shop experience where the proprietors are actual barbers. Not like supercuts, Floyd's, etc. Those aren't actual barbers - they are cosmetologists [1]. More info on the barbershop experience / history here: https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/rediscovering-the-barbershop/ https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/rediscovering-the-ba... 1 - https://www.barbercosmo.ca.gov/ https://www.barbercosmo.ca.gov/
jszymborski 7y ago
First and foremost, you get a standing ovation from me for doing the sort of mad science that'll always be worth doing and gets me excited about the world. One concern I have is, that razor really seems to push that dummy's head back quite a bit, and I'd imagine it'd be rather uncomfortable to have that wacking you. Is there any way to avoid that? Is it maybe not as painful as it looks?
- dopeboy 7y ago
  Great observation - the force sensing isn't there yet. It should be smooth contact all throughout. Definitely working on it.
gargarplex 7y ago
https://pbfcomics.com/comics/automatic-business/ https://pbfcomics.com/comics/automatic-business/
- napolux 7y ago
  I came here to post this. :)
b_tterc_p 7y ago
Feels like the kind of thing that would slit your throat if you had a poorly place tattoo. But I’m betting it can be made to work well though. I would feel sad however. Most great barbers are small business owners. Barbers are perhaps the one service for which I enjoy tipping culture. I don’t talk much during cuts but I enjoy the process quite a bit.
- magduf 7y ago
  >Feels like the kind of thing that would slit your throat if you had a poorly place tattoo. Sounds like a good reason not to have a tattoo... among many other reasons. Are you trying to look like a criminal? Besides, from the description it sounds like it has a standard hair clipper on it. Those don't have exposed blades, so it should be pretty safe.
  - JeremyBanks 7y ago
    dang
rrauenza 7y ago
This reminded me of a less serious proposal by Simone Giertz -- her Haircut Drone video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQSh1MWIdVU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQSh1MWIdVU OP's pitch is also on the youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td7L3qREzqA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td7L3qREzqA
cbames89 7y ago
Interesting project! I've thought about this one before, mostly due to Jimmy Neutron. What arm are you using? Also what depth sensor? A few suggestions: It would appear that you're taking a pretty common approach to robot manipulation, sense, plan, "close your eyes" and then act. This works for stationary objects when you have high accuracy control and high accuracy sensing. Unless you're envisioning strapping people's heads down, your target is going to move. This will necessitate a closed-loop approach. A closed-loop approach here would benefit from force control at the end effector. ATI[1] is a good source for 6-axis load cells and they've recently come out with smaller form factor load cells. A second useful sensor would be a Time-of-Flight depth sensor. The old PMD Camboard Nano used to get up to 90 FPS and a close effective range (if I recall correctly ~3-4"). The time of flight sensors can be a bit noisy, but I've written up some of the smoothing approaches I've taken [2]. Good luck! [1] https://www.ati-ia.com/ https://www.ati-ia.com/ [2] http://www.cbames.com/publications http://www.cbames.com/publications
- dopeboy 7y ago
  Dexter by Haddington Dynamics for the arm. Pico Flexx for the depth sensor. Deeply appreciative of your feedback. Long term, we want to install a force control sensor. The arm actually has a mode that detects negative torque so we may tap into that. Might reach out to you separately for some follow ups - thanks again for the guidance here.
  - cbames89 7y ago
    I've actually built a Dexter with the guys from HD. One of the beauties of that arm is its ability to force sensing inherently, at least the version I have. I doubt you'd need additional force sensing capabilities on top of what you get from Dexter. However, I suspect you're near the arm's payload limit with the clipper setup. Feel free to reach out. I get to the Bay Area every semester or so.
leetbulb 7y ago
Can I bring my own g-code? Maybe share it with others? :)
seapunk 7y ago
Congrats for the technical challenge! Fortunately, getting a haircut is not so expensive everywhere. To be honest with you what you try to accomplish is a repeated topic of discussion in my barber shop and for the moment they seem happy not to see this kind of tech working. Where I live people go the barber shop to feel somebody is taking care of them and have a nice chat in addition to having a nice haircut. I think it's a business that tries to overcome the loneliness but I think you can compete with this if Buzz Robotics brings a kind of human touch, maybe you could make people appreciate robots after all.
- magduf 7y ago
  >what you try to accomplish is a repeated topic of discussion in my barber shop and for the moment they seem happy not to see this kind of tech working. Of course, just like truck drivers don't want to see self-driving trucks. That doesn't mean it's a bad idea at all, just that people don't want their job automated away. As someone who hates barbershops, I'll take a robotic barber any day. >Where I live people go the barber shop to feel somebody is taking care of them and have a nice chat in addition to having a nice haircut. If that's what they want, then they can keep going to the barbershop for that experience, and keep it in business. No one's going to force them to use the robot. >but I think you can compete with this if Buzz Robotics brings a kind of human touch The whole point of something like this is to eliminate the human touch! It's to make getting a haircut a quick, inexpensive, and automated experience, just like buying a drink from a vending machine instead of going to a shop and having it hand-made for you while you sit and chat with someone. It's entirely possible to make coffee with an automatic machine, but Starbucks doesn't seem to be hurting.
huhtenberg 7y ago
Yes! Finally a chance to plug my favorite scene from an old kid's musical :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lgluqEiQow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lgluqEiQow
checktheorder 7y ago
Now there's a subject line that I'm very happy to see didn't link to a Simone Giertz video.
hesk 7y ago
This reminds me of the following joke: A sales representative is advertising his company's invention, a shaving machine. "You put your head in a box", he says, "and two razor sharp knives swoosh down and cut your beard." "Don't people have different head shapes?", an audience member interjects. "Only for the first time."
- holler 7y ago
  lol that was good
your-nanny 7y ago
will the world be better off replacing barbers and stylists with machines?
whalesalad 7y ago
That is pure nightmare fuel.
weisser 7y ago
Curious how many men care about the relationship with their barber enough for this to not take off if done well. There’s likely a sizable population that cares more about convenience, cost, and predictability of outcome. Premium barbershops currently compete on experiences vs outcomes: giving you a glass of whiskey, providing great ambiance, etc. If robots become the default for basic haircuts it will make premium barbershops seems all the more luxurious because you have an actual person (an artist!) cutting your hair. Perhaps they'll be able to raise their prices even more. 1st Disclosure: I'm one of the co-founders of On Deck and the OP is in the On Deck Fellowship. 2nd Disclosure: I thought this idea was completely crazy when Manish first brought in that absurd mannequin with the replaceable beards. Now, the more I think about what he's building and the opportunity space the more I love it.
- joe_the_user 7y ago
  I think anyone who pays a lot for barber or hair stylist is paying for both the experience and the knowledge that they'll wind-up looking like all the other people who pay a lot and that others will know this. I suspect that styles shift subtly over time and a person's stylist give advice about what might look best on a person. And you might even want to seen by or see other customers of given a stylist. Which is to say, I'd say absolutely, relationship with stylist matters but that relationship isn't just an irrational attachment to chatting with the person - it can extend to the finished product, how one winds-up looking.
- codingdave 7y ago
  I am introverted enough that I despise going to a barber to get my beard trimmed (and it shows), and would gladly let a robot do it, if it did a good job. There is certainly a market for this. That being said, when the first thing in the video was the robot jamming the clippers hard into the mannequin's jaw, I realized that while the idea is interesting, it not is not quite ready for prime time.
puranjay 7y ago
Not to be a luddite, but I'm not putting my face anywhere near a robot armed with a blade
- PhantomGremlin 7y ago
  I agree. I upvoted this submission because, IMO, it's comically bad. It will be a long before a contraption like this is ready for prime time. The video is only a minute long, worth watching for the yucks. It's cringe-worthy the way the the razor whacks into the dummy's head. The concern is brushed off with "the force sensing isn't there yet". Yeah, just a small matter of hardware and programming. And, as someone else pointed out, there's the small matter of the hand around the dummy's neck. Comedy gold.
f00bar23 7y ago
Actual footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfDdbrF2bec&t=0m47s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfDdbrF2bec&t=0m47s
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
meteor333 7y ago
I'd love this to get to a stage of getting me consistent haircut. I like barbers but i have horrible time getting consistent haircuts. If I can rely on this robot, I'd switch instantly.
highhedgehog 7y ago
I always wondered if this could be reality

104 points by dopeboy 7y ago

I paid $30 for a beard trim the other day.

Hey everyone, founder of Buzz Robotics here. I'm a guy and getting a haircut is a pain. It takes too much time (appointment + waiting time + sitting time). It involves traveling to the one barber that knows our style. And it is expensive (~$65, on average, in SF). We envision a future where you sit down in a kiosk, swipe your card, and a robot performs a fast, clean, consistent, and most importantly, _SAFE_ haircut on you. All for half the usual cost. And your cut is saved in the cloud for use at any Buzz Robotics kiosk in the world. For the engineers in the crowd, that's a 6 degree of freedom robotic arm with a Wahl trimmer fitted at the end. The arm is provided by Haddington Dynamics (http://hdrobotic.com/ http://hdrobotic.com/). SDK is plain old JavaScript. The point cloud is supplied by a Pico Flexx camera using their C++ SDK. If the business case interests you, here's a pitch I gave at last week's OnDeck fellowship demo day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td7L3qREzqA&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td7L3qREzqA&feature=youtu.be Lastly, if this sounds interesting to you, reach out (arithmetic@gmail.com). Happy to grab coffee too if you're in the bay area.

zepto 7y ago
I think you’re going to need to invest a great deal in cybersecurity. This is essentially an unsupervised internet accessible surgical robot.
- dopeboy 7y ago
  We totally agree, zepto. Though we're still perfecting the computer vision and path tracing pieces, that is squarely next on the agenda. We realize there's a lot of trust users are giving us and we intend to honor that.
jgmmo 7y ago
why not just buzz it yourself? A good buzzer is like 35 bucks in a kit, and then you get hundreds of 'free' buzzes, literally anytime you want. Plus no fear of a robot slitting your throat.
- gargarplex 7y ago
  - As an animal it feels good to have someone else groom you - Actually getting the line perfect is not trivial, even if you're experienced - This brings us one step closer to The Jetsons, and I'm in favor
  - zepto 7y ago
    This isn’t someone else grooming you!
    - gargarplex 7y ago
      Unclear - c.f. Monkey and terry cloth mother studies.
      - zepto 7y ago
        Do you confuse this robot with your mother?
- yuy910616 7y ago
  hard to clean up. sometimes misses spots, etc. I try to buzz myself but it always doesn't look as good
- nhebb 7y ago
  I did this a few weeks ago. I just quit a long tobacco habit, so I might have been a bit impulsive. For the most part, it turned out fine. I needed a second person to help trim the back, though. If you like a clean neckline, that's hard to do yourself. Anyway, I rather have a 1990's Flowbee (https://www.flowbee.com/ https://www.flowbee.com/) than a robot. I've played Fallout 3 and know what can happen.
burkaman 7y ago
Do haircuts really cost $65 in San Fransisco? That seems like a number somebody would make up to parody the high cost of living. ("$65 haircuts! $10 for a loaf of bread! $25 to see a movie!")
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- steffan 7y ago
  I've routinely paid that in Los Angeles as well
  - clort 7y ago
    In the UK I pay £5 for a scissor cut. Best barber I've ever been to, and he will chat but doesn't need to. It is not a fancy place, there are piles of vintage magazines, a daily local paper and the chair is well worn in (looks like he had two chairs in the past, I guess one broke because he just took it out and moved to the other one). I was recommended the place by a friend who took her kids there 25+ years ago. There is usually a queue on saturday mornings but I've never been there more than half an hour. I'm not sure I would go to a robot arm. I bet there are places in California that are similar. Who cuts the hair of the guys who clean the streets and empty the bins? I don't suppose they can afford $65 for a haircut..
    - jedberg 7y ago
      > Who cuts the hair of the guys who clean the streets and empty the bins? I don't suppose they can afford $65 for a haircut.. With the California housing crisis, this is solved by the fact that those folks don't live in SF. Many of them commute over an hour each way for those jobs. It's sort of a problem for us...
    - puranjay 7y ago
      Here in India, I have the option of going to a cheap barber who costs about $1.2 (yes), a slightly better place that costs about $3, and a top of the line place that costs $8.
mempko 7y ago
One pleasure of getting a haircut or beard trim is a good conversation. Maybe not for everyone but it would be missed with a robot.
- zepto 7y ago
  Not if the robot has a conversational bot built in. This way they could make the haircut free by having the bot slip product endorsements into the conversation.
nestorherre 7y ago
Holy Molly! 65 bucks for a haircut? In Colombia they're around 3USD, and in Chile around 7USD. TBH that just seems like a ripoff.
- SimbaOnSteroids 7y ago
  Higher cost of living, and until you figure out a way to cut my hair in the USA while you're in Colombia or Chile I will have to pay $20 a cut minimum, here in a low cost of living part of the USA.
  - okcando 7y ago
    A new use for those surgery robots that let surgeons work remotely. Now a haircut costs $165 and it's an automatic subscription. Colombian barber still gets $3 though. This is helping!
euparkeria 7y ago
Wow, in Brasil we pay roughly $6 in a haircut.
kirktrue 7y ago
I'm only half joking when I suggest you might consider re-shooting and/or re-editing the video to elide the human hand strangling (er, "steadying") the dummy. It doesn't elicit confidence or a positive connotation. That aside, as an introvert, but even as a beardless one, I have nothing but admiration for such efforts to remove human interaction! (Still only half joking.)
- trevyn 7y ago
  On the other hand, if he’s recruiting, it might elicit “I can do that better!” from engineers!
- sameers 7y ago
  or he could put the mannequin head over an actual human head.
throwaway5752 7y ago
This is a very cool project and a bad business idea. I cut my own hair with a Wahl trimmer. Have you gotten liability insurance quotes for this yet? I am not trying to be a buzzkill but you are going to knick ears, pull out small chunks of hair, and other minor trauma on customers if you try this. You want to have that liability insured and if not you might put yourself in personal financial or legal jeopardy, regardless of legal waivers (IANAL).
joe_the_user 7y ago
We envision a future where you sit down in a kiosk, swipe your card, and a robot performs a fast, clean, consistent, and most importantly, _SAFE_ haircut on you. How long are you expecting the research phase to take? I mean, honestly, trying avoid either snark or boosterism, this seems like a challenge akin to getting to level 5 self-driving cars but with a payoff a good deal less. I am both honestly interested in efforts to do things like this but also very much in awe at the hurdles such problems present. We don't have humanoid robots that easily occupy the same space with a human, in the fashion that humans interact with each other daily without one human swinging their elbow into the face of another. Solving that problem is a big deal (it holds back things like medical transport robots). Shaving a person seems a more intense version of this problem - the problem isn't the raw dexterity of the robot but it's ability adjust to and even anticipate a person's micro bodily adjustments (oh, also adjust to the unique physical properties of a given person hair, properties that can even by the part of the body - I have curly patches in places, etc). Despite my general pessimism here, I'd be interested in what tool you imagine could get there. Edit: And one could solve this problem also with something akin to auto-adjusting helmet, so you essentially extend the logic of the plastic guards that keep clippers a fixed distance from the head - the problem here is you'd wind-up building an extremely complex machine without much guarantee of giving a good haircut (the simple motions of a barber conceal an awareness of what their object is and it isn't hair all the same length - an average person use guarder clippers to get that and literally not pretty).
- dopeboy 7y ago
  We're still figuring it out is the honest answer. Here are some learnings from this past year that address some of your points: * Robotic arms are getting better. They're becoming easy to interface with (I programmed the arm in the video using JavaScript) and they're getting cheaper (the arm in the video is $5k kit, $10k assembled). * CV technology has advanced significantly in the past couple years thanks to self-driving tech and facial recognition tech. These are advances that can be repurposed to this venture. * It's going to be baby steps. We mentioned starting with beards but we may even go easier and start with neck fuzz. It's going to be an iterative process and there might be some constraints involved on the UX side until we get better (e.g. asking the user to keep their face within a certain boundary).

maximente 7y ago

i'll sound like a luddite here, but i hope this never really gets to the point of replacing barbers and especially barber shops. barber shops are pretty unique places in that people are really chatty, and it doesn't really matter if you're e.g. a banker or fast food worker, you're still a part of the little community. it's cool to connect with people from all statuses and people tend to be really open, loose, good energy, plus you see the same characters all the time, so it's a mini community. yeah, it's pretty expensive but i personally enjoy that routine/non automated part of my life.

bitwize 7y ago
In the universe of The Stars My Destination, in which all humans have the power to instantaneously teleport ("jaunte"), land vehicles become a symbol of money, power, and status. The same will become true of human barbers in a world where home robots provide perfect haircuts for the cost of energy and upkeep: those with disposable income seeking a personalized, artisanal, handcrafted experience will frequent a barbershop while most of the hoi polloi will take advantage of the robots.
bigyikes 7y ago
Interesting. I would pay extra to not have to chat.
rubicon33 7y ago
Are you describing what you see in movies, or the reality for you? I pop into a supercuts and I'm out in less than 15 minutes. Minimal chatting.
- dfsegoat 7y ago
  He is describing an "old school" barber shop experience where the proprietors are actual barbers. Not like supercuts, Floyd's, etc. Those aren't actual barbers - they are cosmetologists [1]. More info on the barbershop experience / history here: https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/rediscovering-the-barbershop/ https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/rediscovering-the-ba... 1 - https://www.barbercosmo.ca.gov/ https://www.barbercosmo.ca.gov/

jszymborski 7y ago

First and foremost, you get a standing ovation from me for doing the sort of mad science that'll always be worth doing and gets me excited about the world. One concern I have is, that razor really seems to push that dummy's head back quite a bit, and I'd imagine it'd be rather uncomfortable to have that wacking you. Is there any way to avoid that? Is it maybe not as painful as it looks?

dopeboy 7y ago
Great observation - the force sensing isn't there yet. It should be smooth contact all throughout. Definitely working on it.

gargarplex 7y ago

https://pbfcomics.com/comics/automatic-business/ https://pbfcomics.com/comics/automatic-business/

napolux 7y ago
I came here to post this. :)

b_tterc_p 7y ago

Feels like the kind of thing that would slit your throat if you had a poorly place tattoo. But I’m betting it can be made to work well though. I would feel sad however. Most great barbers are small business owners. Barbers are perhaps the one service for which I enjoy tipping culture. I don’t talk much during cuts but I enjoy the process quite a bit.

magduf 7y ago
>Feels like the kind of thing that would slit your throat if you had a poorly place tattoo. Sounds like a good reason not to have a tattoo... among many other reasons. Are you trying to look like a criminal? Besides, from the description it sounds like it has a standard hair clipper on it. Those don't have exposed blades, so it should be pretty safe.
- JeremyBanks 7y ago
  dang

rrauenza 7y ago

This reminded me of a less serious proposal by Simone Giertz -- her Haircut Drone video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQSh1MWIdVU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQSh1MWIdVU OP's pitch is also on the youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td7L3qREzqA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td7L3qREzqA

cbames89 7y ago

Interesting project! I've thought about this one before, mostly due to Jimmy Neutron. What arm are you using? Also what depth sensor? A few suggestions: It would appear that you're taking a pretty common approach to robot manipulation, sense, plan, "close your eyes" and then act. This works for stationary objects when you have high accuracy control and high accuracy sensing. Unless you're envisioning strapping people's heads down, your target is going to move. This will necessitate a closed-loop approach. A closed-loop approach here would benefit from force control at the end effector. ATI[1] is a good source for 6-axis load cells and they've recently come out with smaller form factor load cells. A second useful sensor would be a Time-of-Flight depth sensor. The old PMD Camboard Nano used to get up to 90 FPS and a close effective range (if I recall correctly ~3-4"). The time of flight sensors can be a bit noisy, but I've written up some of the smoothing approaches I've taken [2]. Good luck! [1] https://www.ati-ia.com/ https://www.ati-ia.com/ [2] http://www.cbames.com/publications http://www.cbames.com/publications

dopeboy 7y ago
Dexter by Haddington Dynamics for the arm. Pico Flexx for the depth sensor. Deeply appreciative of your feedback. Long term, we want to install a force control sensor. The arm actually has a mode that detects negative torque so we may tap into that. Might reach out to you separately for some follow ups - thanks again for the guidance here.
- cbames89 7y ago
  I've actually built a Dexter with the guys from HD. One of the beauties of that arm is its ability to force sensing inherently, at least the version I have. I doubt you'd need additional force sensing capabilities on top of what you get from Dexter. However, I suspect you're near the arm's payload limit with the clipper setup. Feel free to reach out. I get to the Bay Area every semester or so.

leetbulb 7y ago

Can I bring my own g-code? Maybe share it with others? :)

seapunk 7y ago

Congrats for the technical challenge! Fortunately, getting a haircut is not so expensive everywhere. To be honest with you what you try to accomplish is a repeated topic of discussion in my barber shop and for the moment they seem happy not to see this kind of tech working. Where I live people go the barber shop to feel somebody is taking care of them and have a nice chat in addition to having a nice haircut. I think it's a business that tries to overcome the loneliness but I think you can compete with this if Buzz Robotics brings a kind of human touch, maybe you could make people appreciate robots after all.

magduf 7y ago
>what you try to accomplish is a repeated topic of discussion in my barber shop and for the moment they seem happy not to see this kind of tech working. Of course, just like truck drivers don't want to see self-driving trucks. That doesn't mean it's a bad idea at all, just that people don't want their job automated away. As someone who hates barbershops, I'll take a robotic barber any day. >Where I live people go the barber shop to feel somebody is taking care of them and have a nice chat in addition to having a nice haircut. If that's what they want, then they can keep going to the barbershop for that experience, and keep it in business. No one's going to force them to use the robot. >but I think you can compete with this if Buzz Robotics brings a kind of human touch The whole point of something like this is to eliminate the human touch! It's to make getting a haircut a quick, inexpensive, and automated experience, just like buying a drink from a vending machine instead of going to a shop and having it hand-made for you while you sit and chat with someone. It's entirely possible to make coffee with an automatic machine, but Starbucks doesn't seem to be hurting.

huhtenberg 7y ago

Yes! Finally a chance to plug my favorite scene from an old kid's musical :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lgluqEiQow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lgluqEiQow

checktheorder 7y ago

Now there's a subject line that I'm very happy to see didn't link to a Simone Giertz video.

hesk 7y ago

This reminds me of the following joke: A sales representative is advertising his company's invention, a shaving machine. "You put your head in a box", he says, "and two razor sharp knives swoosh down and cut your beard." "Don't people have different head shapes?", an audience member interjects. "Only for the first time."

holler 7y ago
lol that was good

your-nanny 7y ago

will the world be better off replacing barbers and stylists with machines?

whalesalad 7y ago

That is pure nightmare fuel.

weisser 7y ago

Curious how many men care about the relationship with their barber enough for this to not take off if done well. There’s likely a sizable population that cares more about convenience, cost, and predictability of outcome. Premium barbershops currently compete on experiences vs outcomes: giving you a glass of whiskey, providing great ambiance, etc. If robots become the default for basic haircuts it will make premium barbershops seems all the more luxurious because you have an actual person (an artist!) cutting your hair. Perhaps they'll be able to raise their prices even more. 1st Disclosure: I'm one of the co-founders of On Deck and the OP is in the On Deck Fellowship. 2nd Disclosure: I thought this idea was completely crazy when Manish first brought in that absurd mannequin with the replaceable beards. Now, the more I think about what he's building and the opportunity space the more I love it.

joe_the_user 7y ago
I think anyone who pays a lot for barber or hair stylist is paying for both the experience and the knowledge that they'll wind-up looking like all the other people who pay a lot and that others will know this. I suspect that styles shift subtly over time and a person's stylist give advice about what might look best on a person. And you might even want to seen by or see other customers of given a stylist. Which is to say, I'd say absolutely, relationship with stylist matters but that relationship isn't just an irrational attachment to chatting with the person - it can extend to the finished product, how one winds-up looking.
codingdave 7y ago
I am introverted enough that I despise going to a barber to get my beard trimmed (and it shows), and would gladly let a robot do it, if it did a good job. There is certainly a market for this. That being said, when the first thing in the video was the robot jamming the clippers hard into the mannequin's jaw, I realized that while the idea is interesting, it not is not quite ready for prime time.

puranjay 7y ago

Not to be a luddite, but I'm not putting my face anywhere near a robot armed with a blade

PhantomGremlin 7y ago
I agree. I upvoted this submission because, IMO, it's comically bad. It will be a long before a contraption like this is ready for prime time. The video is only a minute long, worth watching for the yucks. It's cringe-worthy the way the the razor whacks into the dummy's head. The concern is brushed off with "the force sensing isn't there yet". Yeah, just a small matter of hardware and programming. And, as someone else pointed out, there's the small matter of the hand around the dummy's neck. Comedy gold.

f00bar23 7y ago

Actual footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfDdbrF2bec&t=0m47s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfDdbrF2bec&t=0m47s

deleted 7y ago

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meteor333 7y ago

I'd love this to get to a stage of getting me consistent haircut. I like barbers but i have horrible time getting consistent haircuts. If I can rely on this robot, I'd switch instantly.

highhedgehog 7y ago

I always wondered if this could be reality