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A common platform for robot development could really boost innovation in robotics. I smell disruption.

• rman666 16y ago
  Sorry, there will be no disruption in personal robotics for many years. There have been articles proclaiming the year of the personal robot for at least a decade. The biggest problems in personal robotics are not computer hardware or software, but mechanical components and actuators. It still costs too much to build something that doesn't get boring after a week of working with it. Look at the Abio. It was beautiful but it got boring after a week because it couldn't do anything. Why not? Because it was too limited mechanically. If it was simply a matter of more computer power, there'd be people people hacking on more powerful processors and more memory, but there aren't. People want there $10K personal robot to be able to do something more useful than running a demo program. That requires power and robust and flexible mechanical system that can mimic what people can do. It may even require new materials (muscle wire, anyone?). Just my 2-cents.
  • erikstarck 16y ago
    It got boring because it wasn't part of a platform that could extend it - or be extended by it. It's like an operating system that only has a drawing program. Edit: let's say the Aibo was an open sourced software plus blueprints for a 3D-printer. Anyone who wanted a "walking"-component for their robot could simply download it and build and extend it themselves. You could even run the entire thing in an emulator and then just press "print" when you wanted it in the physical world. Now that _is_ disruption.
    • rman666 16y ago
      Yeah, we saw a lot of that happen with the Abio.