6 ms·

Labrador's robotic shelf for people with mobility issues

112 points by nharada 4y ago

dmix 4y ago
Might be the first time I've seen a mobile house-robot besides a vacuum that's actually very useful. My mom works as a PSW and I showed her this, she mentioned there's a large number of people not quite at the point of needing an in-home person where this could fill a lot of roles. The video is quite excellent by being simple (designated rooms + designated trays/table areas + follow me + Alexa integration) and showing practical examples.
- 0des 4y ago
  Not disabled, but I just want to clap my hands and yell "Chappy!" and have this thing bring me the whiskey tray. How can we make this happen?
  - bitwize 4y ago
    Just be careful you don't accidentally summon a gangsta former police bot: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lyy7y0QOK-0 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lyy7y0QOK-0
gitgud 4y ago
This is a great example of how "distilling the user's needs" can lead to an extremely simple and useful design. I believe this will be a fairly popular product just like the robot vacuum cleaners we have today.
- carapace 4y ago
  OXO (the kitchen utensil co.) I've started to think of "OXO" as a general design principle: design for elderly or otherwise challenged folk turns out to be great for the able-bodied (is that still the right euphemism these days?) One way to look at it: You know the joke meme "It's Uber for FOO"? Well, I think you can come up with great products by "It's OXO for FOO." It's OXO for domestic robots. It's OXO for cars. It's OXO for user interfaces. It's OXO for banking. It's OXO for ...
Tade0 4y ago
> “My charter was to sell 10 to 15,000 units of that kit, and we ended up doing over a million,” he says. “That’s a claim to fame that really impresses six year olds.” We used Lego Mindstorms in college in a robotics course, because it offered the best value among such kits.
sterlind 4y ago
Ahhh I want this so bad! I'm a wheelchair user and moving things around is incredibly frustrating, since you need both hands free to push the wheels. You can kinda get away with holding a cup of water by pushing one wheel at a time and switching the cup from hand to hand, or pushing off of countertops with your free hand, but it's annoying and dangerous if you're moving fragile items or hot liquids. I really hope this doesn't cost too much. Disabled people tend not to have much money, and my insurance company wouldn't even pay for ramps, much less something like this.
- sverhagen 4y ago
  You know it's not gonna be cheap... Though I wouldn't know what you price this kind of utility at. Also, pricing is in the article.
  - azalemeth 4y ago
    I recently injured my spine (a "tiny myelopathy" and a series of larger radiculopathies) and have recently been assessed for a chair I can sit in for >1 hour without being in pain. It costs (in USD, although I do not live in the US) nearly $2200. I do not believe it costs anything like that much to manufacture. Added together with a desk, arm supports, and table that they recommended and you end up with nearly $10000 in costs. Someone, somewhere is making a lot of money out of healthcare systems.
    - Xylakant 4y ago
      There’s a pretty cool kids show in Germany (Sendung mit der Maus) and in one of the last sequels they showed how the customized seat padding for a wheelchair is made. And that involves a shit-ton of back and forth, measuring, cnc-cutting, fine tuning, adjusting and all of it mostly one-off manual labor with expensive machiner. I’m certain someone is making money off that, but given the amount of highly specialized labor that went into this, I believe 2200 USD is reasonable. (If you run the math, that’s roughly 2-3 days of work for an engineer that earns 250k, without even considering all attached costs)
- 4y ago
aaron695 4y ago
bengale 4y ago
This is really cool. In the last couple of years of my grandad's life the most useful thing we got him was a walking aid that had a tray and a basket on it. It made such a difference for him being able to move things around his flat and stay independent.
hrdwdmrbl 4y ago
I'd be very curious to see if people without mobility issues might find it useful. Maybe after a few iterations on the design. Then I'm thinking, what if everything in my house was on wheels? Reminders me of those super modular homes that you sometimes see on YouTube where everything is a transformer (bed comes desk, table becomes chair, bookshelf becomes toilet , etc.) or folds away.
rs999gti 4y ago
Dang, I thought this was going to be an actual labrador retriever with a robotic shelf harness on its back
Jemm 4y ago
Always thought Labrador was golden arm and was going to comment how strange to give a robot without arms this name. Love when I learn new things. "Labrador is named after João Fernandes Lavrador, a Portuguese explorer who sailed along the coasts of the Peninsula in 1498–99. Lavrador in Portuguese means 'farmer' (cognate with 'labourer')." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labrador https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labrador
warpspin 4y ago
Unfortunately they suffer from the same problem as early generation daleks: they cannot climb stairs.

112 points by nharada 4y ago

dmix 4y ago

Might be the first time I've seen a mobile house-robot besides a vacuum that's actually very useful. My mom works as a PSW and I showed her this, she mentioned there's a large number of people not quite at the point of needing an in-home person where this could fill a lot of roles. The video is quite excellent by being simple (designated rooms + designated trays/table areas + follow me + Alexa integration) and showing practical examples.

0des 4y ago
Not disabled, but I just want to clap my hands and yell "Chappy!" and have this thing bring me the whiskey tray. How can we make this happen?
- bitwize 4y ago
  Just be careful you don't accidentally summon a gangsta former police bot: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lyy7y0QOK-0 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lyy7y0QOK-0

gitgud 4y ago

This is a great example of how "distilling the user's needs" can lead to an extremely simple and useful design. I believe this will be a fairly popular product just like the robot vacuum cleaners we have today.

carapace 4y ago
OXO (the kitchen utensil co.) I've started to think of "OXO" as a general design principle: design for elderly or otherwise challenged folk turns out to be great for the able-bodied (is that still the right euphemism these days?) One way to look at it: You know the joke meme "It's Uber for FOO"? Well, I think you can come up with great products by "It's OXO for FOO." It's OXO for domestic robots. It's OXO for cars. It's OXO for user interfaces. It's OXO for banking. It's OXO for ...

Tade0 4y ago

> “My charter was to sell 10 to 15,000 units of that kit, and we ended up doing over a million,” he says. “That’s a claim to fame that really impresses six year olds.” We used Lego Mindstorms in college in a robotics course, because it offered the best value among such kits.

sterlind 4y ago

Ahhh I want this so bad! I'm a wheelchair user and moving things around is incredibly frustrating, since you need both hands free to push the wheels. You can kinda get away with holding a cup of water by pushing one wheel at a time and switching the cup from hand to hand, or pushing off of countertops with your free hand, but it's annoying and dangerous if you're moving fragile items or hot liquids. I really hope this doesn't cost too much. Disabled people tend not to have much money, and my insurance company wouldn't even pay for ramps, much less something like this.

sverhagen 4y ago
You know it's not gonna be cheap... Though I wouldn't know what you price this kind of utility at. Also, pricing is in the article.
- azalemeth 4y ago
  I recently injured my spine (a "tiny myelopathy" and a series of larger radiculopathies) and have recently been assessed for a chair I can sit in for >1 hour without being in pain. It costs (in USD, although I do not live in the US) nearly $2200. I do not believe it costs anything like that much to manufacture. Added together with a desk, arm supports, and table that they recommended and you end up with nearly $10000 in costs. Someone, somewhere is making a lot of money out of healthcare systems.
  - Xylakant 4y ago
    There’s a pretty cool kids show in Germany (Sendung mit der Maus) and in one of the last sequels they showed how the customized seat padding for a wheelchair is made. And that involves a shit-ton of back and forth, measuring, cnc-cutting, fine tuning, adjusting and all of it mostly one-off manual labor with expensive machiner. I’m certain someone is making money off that, but given the amount of highly specialized labor that went into this, I believe 2200 USD is reasonable. (If you run the math, that’s roughly 2-3 days of work for an engineer that earns 250k, without even considering all attached costs)
4y ago

aaron695 4y ago

bengale 4y ago

This is really cool. In the last couple of years of my grandad's life the most useful thing we got him was a walking aid that had a tray and a basket on it. It made such a difference for him being able to move things around his flat and stay independent.

hrdwdmrbl 4y ago

I'd be very curious to see if people without mobility issues might find it useful. Maybe after a few iterations on the design. Then I'm thinking, what if everything in my house was on wheels? Reminders me of those super modular homes that you sometimes see on YouTube where everything is a transformer (bed comes desk, table becomes chair, bookshelf becomes toilet , etc.) or folds away.

rs999gti 4y ago

Dang, I thought this was going to be an actual labrador retriever with a robotic shelf harness on its back

Jemm 4y ago

Always thought Labrador was golden arm and was going to comment how strange to give a robot without arms this name. Love when I learn new things. "Labrador is named after João Fernandes Lavrador, a Portuguese explorer who sailed along the coasts of the Peninsula in 1498–99. Lavrador in Portuguese means 'farmer' (cognate with 'labourer')." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labrador https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labrador

warpspin 4y ago

Unfortunately they suffer from the same problem as early generation daleks: they cannot climb stairs.