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You do have to pay for a maintenance contract and part supply chain. Even if the robot keeps working your business may not legally be able to operate outside a

You do have to pay for a maintenance contract and part supply chain. Even if the robot keeps working your business may not legally be able to operate outside a certain window if you're public facing (eg a clothing store). There are times the math works out for the robot but it's not very often. Keep in mind the robots need to be managed - someone has to make sure they're working and be able to take over when they go down.

lostapathy 7y ago
My point wasn't that it's a slam dunk - my point was just that "$100k buys a lot of labor in a recession" is a strawman in the other directions. Industrial automation is only getting cheaper, more capable, and easier to use with every passing year. Things you "know" from even a couple years ago don't apply today. The rate of progress is pretty incredible.
- lnsru 7y ago
  Could you, please, provide any examples about current progress? Autonomous ground vehicles are there, but paths are planned drawing lines on the floor. It’s not that far from carts with ropes from 1970s.
  - lostapathy 7y ago
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E05GSshnMOM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E05GSshnMOM This is the start of a multi-video series where a relatively small shop talks about implementing a robot in his factory today. Notably, he tried (and gave up on it) just 4 years ago. I know those aren't robots walking around the floor - but that level of automation to load/unload parts is a huge thing to "keep the CNC machines fed" in more and more factories. Look up Fanuc robots on youtube for tons of examples of automation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKrlXyLQbwM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKrlXyLQbwM is a cool example of 2 robots on a rail servicing 4 CNC machines. What's neat here is that it's taking parts from machine to machine to work through all manufacturing steps. None of this is exactly that "high end", either. Plenty of high end hobbyists/micro-businesses run Robodrills (like the last video) in their home garage. The UR robot in the first video I linked is super accessible as well and showing up in more and more small (<10 employee) machine shops.
    - lnsru 7y ago
      Thank you for the video. I was last year in Productronica exhibition in Munich last year. There were many many robots for loading/unloading tasks.

lostapathy 7y ago

My point wasn't that it's a slam dunk - my point was just that "$100k buys a lot of labor in a recession" is a strawman in the other directions. Industrial automation is only getting cheaper, more capable, and easier to use with every passing year. Things you "know" from even a couple years ago don't apply today. The rate of progress is pretty incredible.

lnsru 7y ago
Could you, please, provide any examples about current progress? Autonomous ground vehicles are there, but paths are planned drawing lines on the floor. It’s not that far from carts with ropes from 1970s.
- lostapathy 7y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E05GSshnMOM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E05GSshnMOM This is the start of a multi-video series where a relatively small shop talks about implementing a robot in his factory today. Notably, he tried (and gave up on it) just 4 years ago. I know those aren't robots walking around the floor - but that level of automation to load/unload parts is a huge thing to "keep the CNC machines fed" in more and more factories. Look up Fanuc robots on youtube for tons of examples of automation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKrlXyLQbwM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKrlXyLQbwM is a cool example of 2 robots on a rail servicing 4 CNC machines. What's neat here is that it's taking parts from machine to machine to work through all manufacturing steps. None of this is exactly that "high end", either. Plenty of high end hobbyists/micro-businesses run Robodrills (like the last video) in their home garage. The UR robot in the first video I linked is super accessible as well and showing up in more and more small (<10 employee) machine shops.
  - lnsru 7y ago
    Thank you for the video. I was last year in Productronica exhibition in Munich last year. There were many many robots for loading/unloading tasks.