7 ms·

Manicure robot in San Francisco is now painting nails in 10 minutes for just $8

48 points by rmason 5y ago

malloreon 5y ago
Reminds me of https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nimble/nimble-salon-quality-nails-from-the-comfort-of-your-home https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nimble/nimble-salon-qua..., seen a lotta YouTube ads for this lately.
- Hackbraten 5y ago
  What a user-hostile design. You buy a $350 device, then you have to buy proprietary nail polish capsules until the day the company inevitably goes down? And after that you’re stuck with a nail Juicero?
  - Bancakes 5y ago
    There was a tabletop dishwasher not too long ago that had proprietary capsules. A dude bought industrial detergent and filled them up with a syringe for 100x cheaper.
    - Jiejeing 5y ago
      That is a bit reductive, you also need the tools to write to the chip that the capsule is full, otherwise it is useless.
      - Bancakes 5y ago
        It turned out to be a simple I2C memory, and the author wrote 999999 to it, IIRC.
- bhouston 5y ago
  Does Nimble work? It is so highly promoted that I wonder if it is selling based on potential more than reality.
thatguy0900 5y ago
"The company behind the bot says they design robots that “liberate people from everyday mundane tasks.”" I found this line very amusing. I'm sure the people being "liberated" are very glad someone is looking out for them. Obviously a lot of modern tech is pushing people out of jobs but it's a little insulting and funny to be twisted like this.
- redis_mlc 5y ago
  History of Vietnamese nail salons in Calif: How Tippi Hedren made Vietnamese refugees into nail salon magnates https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32544343 https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32544343
- CryptoPunk 5y ago
  You gotta remember that automation also reduces the cost of these kinds of devices, allowing more people to acquire these devices and automate their tasks, pushing the entire population up the productivity value ladder. The best example I can think of, of an automation device that has done this, is a smartphone. There are now something like 3.5 billion people that have one, and it won't be long before nearly every one on Earth does. Smartphones enable numerous tasks that people once had to hire another person to do for them, to be done automatically. The result is people's tastes expanding, as the global population becomes capable of providing more goods/services than ever before.
  - Someone 5y ago
    It can be argued that’s not fully a good thing. Looking at the environment/climate/resources, we may not know where the cliff lies, but we do know there is one and also that we are accelerating towards it without having good ideas as to how to stop.
    - CryptoPunk 5y ago
      We can extract massive amounts of natural resources outside of Earth, at no cost to the natural environment. The idealistic/utopianist ideas about humanity's potential are actually correct in this case I believe.
coolspot 5y ago
Not sure if the nail painting itself is what women pay for when they go to a nail salon. Carefully scraping old nail polish, treating skin around the nail and nail shape are probably most labor-intensive tasks that many women want to offload to a paid specialist. Painting already prepared nail is the easy part, AFAIK. On a scale from Tesla Autopilot (A) to Juicero (J) I would give it G.
- vmception 5y ago
  The title doesn’t say anything about replacing the nail salon experience or for women It says a robot that paints nails Aside from women, alot of men don’t go to nail salons either but paint their nails or would be open to it There is a big enough audience
- eric__cartman 5y ago
  It's pretty stupid. Also nail printers (or whatever they are called) have already existed for a while now. You can buy one in Amazon (it's still a cool $1000 for whatever it does) so this isn't a new concept. Also this robot probably can't give you recommendations or have a conversation with you as a human would do.
  - toper-centage 5y ago
    Adding a microphone, a GTP3 chatbot and a speaker also seems like a quite trivial addition that would enable chit chatting.
    - anyfoo 5y ago
      I am genuinely curious if this is meant to be satire, or if you are actually serious. Poe’s Law and all.
      - flemhans 5y ago
        As a child I was writing a letter for my grandmother and naturally used the Macintosh LC III we had just got. My mother was against using the computer as a handwritten letter would be more personal. So I found a place in the print dialog where you could add different watermarks and chose the one saying "PERSONAL".
kapx 5y ago
There's no way in hell that I'd let a robot do anything to my hands. Move fast and break things ...
- jkestner 5y ago
  Ransomware that breaks your hands if you don’t cough up the money. Technology comes for us all, even the mob goons.
pandemic_region 5y ago
> This site is currently unavailable to visitors from the European Economic Area while we work to ensure your data is protected in accordance with applicable EU laws. Meh, I'm not in your target audience anyway.
- Calvin02 5y ago
  Perhaps pick a side and try sticking to it? After enacting a set of EU specific rules, it feels a little entitled to expect that not only all foreign websites must follow them, but that they must also make their content available for free.
  - dmos62 5y ago
    The other person hasn't made any requests or expressed entitlement, as far as I can tell. I think you might be venting.
    - pc86 5y ago
      The idea that the EU can pass an EU law and expect foreign entities to comply with it at all is pretty entitled.
      - dmos62 5y ago
        Say you're from US. Would you like Asian imports to satisfy US consumer regulations? Say you have guests. Would you like them to take their muddy shoes off?
        pc86 5y ago
        This is a bad faith argument barely worth a response, however, imports are on US soil. That's the difference. The EU thinks it can dictate to a non-EU company what to do on its non-EU servers because an EU citizen visited their website. It's ludicrous and laughable. The EU is 100% within its rights to regulate what happens within its borders to its heart's content, right up until the moment they purport to tell foreign entities what they have to do.
Proven 5y ago
The min wage is $15, the robot owner makes $48 and everybody's happy in Cali!
mhb 5y ago
Building a hair cutting robot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zBrbdU_y0s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zBrbdU_y0s

48 points by rmason 5y ago

Reminds me of https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nimble/nimble-salon-quality-nails-from-the-comfort-of-your-home https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nimble/nimble-salon-qua..., seen a lotta YouTube ads for this lately.

Hackbraten 5y ago
What a user-hostile design. You buy a $350 device, then you have to buy proprietary nail polish capsules until the day the company inevitably goes down? And after that you’re stuck with a nail Juicero?
- Bancakes 5y ago
  There was a tabletop dishwasher not too long ago that had proprietary capsules. A dude bought industrial detergent and filled them up with a syringe for 100x cheaper.
  - Jiejeing 5y ago
    That is a bit reductive, you also need the tools to write to the chip that the capsule is full, otherwise it is useless.
    - Bancakes 5y ago
      It turned out to be a simple I2C memory, and the author wrote 999999 to it, IIRC.
bhouston 5y ago
Does Nimble work? It is so highly promoted that I wonder if it is selling based on potential more than reality.

thatguy0900 5y ago

"The company behind the bot says they design robots that “liberate people from everyday mundane tasks.”" I found this line very amusing. I'm sure the people being "liberated" are very glad someone is looking out for them. Obviously a lot of modern tech is pushing people out of jobs but it's a little insulting and funny to be twisted like this.

redis_mlc 5y ago
History of Vietnamese nail salons in Calif: How Tippi Hedren made Vietnamese refugees into nail salon magnates https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32544343 https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32544343
CryptoPunk 5y ago
You gotta remember that automation also reduces the cost of these kinds of devices, allowing more people to acquire these devices and automate their tasks, pushing the entire population up the productivity value ladder. The best example I can think of, of an automation device that has done this, is a smartphone. There are now something like 3.5 billion people that have one, and it won't be long before nearly every one on Earth does. Smartphones enable numerous tasks that people once had to hire another person to do for them, to be done automatically. The result is people's tastes expanding, as the global population becomes capable of providing more goods/services than ever before.
- Someone 5y ago
  It can be argued that’s not fully a good thing. Looking at the environment/climate/resources, we may not know where the cliff lies, but we do know there is one and also that we are accelerating towards it without having good ideas as to how to stop.
  - CryptoPunk 5y ago
    We can extract massive amounts of natural resources outside of Earth, at no cost to the natural environment. The idealistic/utopianist ideas about humanity's potential are actually correct in this case I believe.

coolspot 5y ago

Not sure if the nail painting itself is what women pay for when they go to a nail salon. Carefully scraping old nail polish, treating skin around the nail and nail shape are probably most labor-intensive tasks that many women want to offload to a paid specialist. Painting already prepared nail is the easy part, AFAIK. On a scale from Tesla Autopilot (A) to Juicero (J) I would give it G.

vmception 5y ago
The title doesn’t say anything about replacing the nail salon experience or for women It says a robot that paints nails Aside from women, alot of men don’t go to nail salons either but paint their nails or would be open to it There is a big enough audience
eric__cartman 5y ago
It's pretty stupid. Also nail printers (or whatever they are called) have already existed for a while now. You can buy one in Amazon (it's still a cool $1000 for whatever it does) so this isn't a new concept. Also this robot probably can't give you recommendations or have a conversation with you as a human would do.
- toper-centage 5y ago
  Adding a microphone, a GTP3 chatbot and a speaker also seems like a quite trivial addition that would enable chit chatting.
  - anyfoo 5y ago
    I am genuinely curious if this is meant to be satire, or if you are actually serious. Poe’s Law and all.
    - flemhans 5y ago
      As a child I was writing a letter for my grandmother and naturally used the Macintosh LC III we had just got. My mother was against using the computer as a handwritten letter would be more personal. So I found a place in the print dialog where you could add different watermarks and chose the one saying "PERSONAL".

kapx 5y ago

There's no way in hell that I'd let a robot do anything to my hands. Move fast and break things ...

jkestner 5y ago
Ransomware that breaks your hands if you don’t cough up the money. Technology comes for us all, even the mob goons.

pandemic_region 5y ago

> This site is currently unavailable to visitors from the European Economic Area while we work to ensure your data is protected in accordance with applicable EU laws. Meh, I'm not in your target audience anyway.

Calvin02 5y ago
Perhaps pick a side and try sticking to it? After enacting a set of EU specific rules, it feels a little entitled to expect that not only all foreign websites must follow them, but that they must also make their content available for free.
- dmos62 5y ago
  The other person hasn't made any requests or expressed entitlement, as far as I can tell. I think you might be venting.
  - pc86 5y ago
    The idea that the EU can pass an EU law and expect foreign entities to comply with it at all is pretty entitled.
    - dmos62 5y ago
      Say you're from US. Would you like Asian imports to satisfy US consumer regulations? Say you have guests. Would you like them to take their muddy shoes off?
      - pc86 5y ago
        This is a bad faith argument barely worth a response, however, imports are on US soil. That's the difference. The EU thinks it can dictate to a non-EU company what to do on its non-EU servers because an EU citizen visited their website. It's ludicrous and laughable. The EU is 100% within its rights to regulate what happens within its borders to its heart's content, right up until the moment they purport to tell foreign entities what they have to do.

Proven 5y ago

The min wage is $15, the robot owner makes $48 and everybody's happy in Cali!

mhb 5y ago

Building a hair cutting robot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zBrbdU_y0s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zBrbdU_y0s