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The robotics revolution is here, and it's changing how we live
- neilpanchal 6y agoWe also have things like this where a drip coffee machine would do exactly the same thing: https://images.wsj.net/im-223921?width=1280&size=1.33333333 https://images.wsj.net/im-223921?width=1280&size=1.33333333
- nkingsy 6y agoIf it cleans up that would be a pretty nice pour over station.
- jbarrozo 6y agoIs a vendo machine considered robot?
- CyberDildonics 6y agoOnly if you need to make your word quota for the week.
- r0s 6y agoThis feels like a Wired article from 2003.
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- magneticnorth 6y ago"If you're like most people, you've never met a robot" is a very odd opener. I have seen a roomba? And ridden in a car with autopilot? And outside the tech bubble, I'd expect that nearly all factory workers have "met" a robot by this point.
- drannex 6y agoMan, I wish we had articles written like Wired from 2003-2009, that was the height of their editorial.
- amelius 6y agoRobots are still very much special-purpose devices, so I would call them just machines, like a dishwashing machine. The moment they become more versatile we can call them robots. E.g. when the same machine can bake an egg, do the dishes, and vacuum the floor.
- LeifCarrotson 6y agoI use robots in my day job for industrial automation. $12k to 60k, SCARA or 6-axis robot arms, from Fanuc, ABB, Epson, Denso etc. We call them "robots" and not just "machines" or "actuators" like the rest of the equipment because, in comparison with the rest of the industrial LEGO with which they interact, they are incredibly versatile. They're not sci-fi "Do what I mean" versatile, no, but if the requirements change (or are likely to change) then they're probably going to be your easiest path to accommodate those changes, without buying new parts. Sure, you can, say, design in a shim pack to precisely set the travel of a pneumatic cylinder (to make one of six degrees of freedom able to be changed), but with a robot you just bolt the fixture down to the concrete at woodworker precision and let the robot programmer (sigh...) accomodate any tolerance you may need to take up.
- paulsutter 6y ago"If it works, it's a machine. If it doesn't work, it's a Robot" - Kane Hsieh, Root VC
- BadassFractal 6y agoReminds me of the "if we understand it, it's just a machine, if we don't, that's technology". Nobody calls a bus "technology" anymore, but ML, now that's technology!
- CyberDildonics 6y agoWhoever came up with renaming statistics to be machine-learning-artificial-intelligence was the venture capital alchemist of the decade.
- eru 6y agoI'd say it's the other way round: people were trying their hands at what they called AI for a while. See the original AI winter etc. The modern renaissance in AI came when partially from trying to put these techniques on more sound mathematical footings like statistics.
- ethbro 6y agoPeople who don't understand things, call them some variant on magic. People who do, use their true names. Clarke's linguistic corollary has probably been true for as long as there's been technology.
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- michaelbuckbee 6y agoI prefer Buckbee's Law: "The value of a robot is proportional to the degree it does not look like a robot."
- syndacks 6y agoCan we please change the title of this post? "And it's changing how we live" is not only click bait, it's not even in the original article.
- simonebrunozzi 6y agoAgree. Please, dang.
- Cyphase 6y agoI agree it should be changed, but to be fair, it is the title of the webpage. Sites often have different HTML titles from the article's "real" title that is shown on the page itself. I'm sure it's for click-baiting, as you indicated.
- jasode 6y agoUnderstand your annoyance but "it's changing how we live" is in the raw HTML source tag <title>. It may have been the most convenient text (e.g. maybe default title in RSS reader) to copy paste into the submission form. From browser's view source: <title>The robotics revolution is here, and it's changing how we live</title>
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- ourcat 6y agoIf relationships with China go further south, I've been wondering/worrying if that might eventually (and sadly) affect the supply of cheap components to young, developing 'makers', many of whom ultimatately tend to end up in this line of industry after years of tinkering. The knock-on effect could be huge in the future.
- sircastor 6y agoI’ve worried about this too, but it is a two way street. China’s industry can’t stop supplying these components to manufacturers without taking a hit. The extra supply that feeds Makers won’t go away unless the production itself goes away. In spite of all their efforts, this is still Capitalism, and there are still willing buyers.
- toxik 6y agoThe Chinese government is boneheaded enough to do something like that, definitely. It would of course be a bad idea in the long run as production would simply move.
- noodlesUK 6y agoI’ve recently got a roborock vacuum, and it’s actually been life changing. I have a number of pets, and not having to vacuum 3x a week or so has been incredible. I had a roomba when I was a kid and it sucked (or not I suppose). The roborock has lidar and it’s super meticulous.
- TheSpiceIsLife 6y agoWhat model have you got? I've been looking and it a seems robot vacs have finally started to be good. So looking to make a purchase between now and Christmas-ish.
- CarbyAu 6y agoNot GP; I have a Roborock S5. But it hasn't run yet. I have yet to get around to rooting it to avoid privacy issues. https://www.iot-tests.org/2019/02/from-the-land-of-smiles-xiaomi-roborock-s55/ https://www.iot-tests.org/2019/02/from-the-land-of-smiles-xi... On the upside, apparently once it is rooted and dustcloud installed it is apparently even more responsive as it pretty much stores the database on itself. https://github.com/dgiese/dustcloud https://github.com/dgiese/dustcloud As usual, disclaimers apply, YMMV etc etc.
- xiphias2 6y agoBoth S5 and S6 are great (actually there's not much difference) as long as you don't try to mop the floor with it (I haven't). Setting up red zones with the app is the most important part of making them useful.
- noodlesUK 6y agoI have the s6 pure which I got for a little less than 500 USD iirc. It’s fantastic.
- thdrdt 6y agoDid you already upgrade it so it screams when it hits a wall to make it more 'human'? https://youtu.be/mvz3LRK263E https://youtu.be/mvz3LRK263E (fun starts around 3:30, might be nsfw)
- lkrubner 6y agoIf the robotics revolution is here, why is productivity growth so low? American factories underwent dramatic automation during the 1950s and 1960s, and productivity growth was very high at that time. Maybe that was the real robotics revolution?
- petra 6y agoIt's all so new, and far from being fully deployed, to be seen in economical averages.
- lkrubner 6y agoThen why use the word "here"? Your point is that this is something that is still nascent -- maybe we will see results in a few years. It is not "here" yet.
- emteycz 6y agoBecause people who want to risk a little for some interesting gains should be doing it now, not when it's in the averages. It gets in the averages years after all the purchases, setup, customization and consulting is done.
- lkrubner 6y agoThen why use the word "here"? Your point is that this is something that is still nascent -- maybe we will see results in a few years. It is not "here" yet.
- emteycz 6y agoIt was not my point, but I think our definitions of 'here' differ. I don't need to wait until everyone has it to consider it 'here'. I consider it here when I can start doing it.
- the-dude 6y agoTractors are the most influential robots of the past century.
- Animats 6y agoEvery example they give is a demo, not a production system.
- jam 6y agoA few they mention are production systems at fairly high volume. The floor scrubbers from Brain Corp and shelf scanners from Bossa Nova are running in hundreds of Walmart stores, and the delivery robots from Starship are running in dozens of cities.
- Animats 6y agoI've seen the Starship robots rolling around, always with a human watcher following along.
- oldgradstudent 6y agoThe meaning of the expression 'to be here' when applied to a technology has changed in recent years. consider the sentences: The robotics revolution is here. Self-driving cars are already here. The expression 'to be here' no longer has any specific meaning.
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- banmeagaindan2 6y agoI like robots but bullshit. There is no Robotics revolution and won't be until the Paradoxes are broken. We have toys until then.