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How could it be economical to be employing someone to remote control the robot? Surely it would be much cheaper to just have a regular guy on a moped in that ca

How could it be economical to be employing someone to remote control the robot? Surely it would be much cheaper to just have a regular guy on a moped in that case? Unless the human operator is monitoring multiple robots which are semi-autonomous, with the human operator only taking direct control if a robot gets stuck.

Rebelgecko 4y ago
The humans also don't have to be local. Seems like a clever way to avoid paying HCOL minimum wage and benefits. Instead of paying someone in LA $15/hr, have some kid in Venezuela do it for $50/month. Latency shouldn't be unmanageable.
everyone 4y ago
This actually gives me an idea for a computer game...
tyingq 4y ago
Their website boasts a lot about L4 autonomy, so maybe just what happens when it sees barrier tape?
joshribakoff 4y ago
Yes the part at the end is the case. Furthermore, the human operators are a “crutch” necessary to develop full autonomy. The alternative is to send someone out to retrieve the robot if it gets stuck (which will continue to for years as the technology is refined)
krisoft 4y ago
> Surely it would be much cheaper to just have a regular guy on a moped in that case? There are two reasons why it makes sense economically: - to deliver by moped you need to live in a reasonable commuting distance to the place where you are delivering. The robot driver can operate from a much lower cost of living area, or even a different lower cost country. - even if you don’t do that and your drivers all operate from a high cost of living area the idea is that your software engineers will keep updating the software and you need less and less human supervision. The first day maybe all your robots are remotely operated 100%. A month later you have a model to drive the robots automatically on the simple straight bits. What you can do then is to have a driver operate maybe two robots. When one finishes with the simple task it can do on its own it waits for the operator. The more fully autonomous you can make the software the more robots a single operator can operate at a time, and the beter your margins will ve. This way your level of autonomy is not a binary perfect or nothing proposition but a sliding scale where as you get better you earn more money.
- notatoad 4y ago
  don't forget the third reason robots are more economically viable: it's easier to get a VC to give you money if your pitch deck includes terms like robots, AI, and level-4 automation. if you're just hiring scooter drivers, you're going to have to make money the old-fashioned way
t_von_doom 4y ago
Other commenters have covered some economical reasons, but it is also an opportunity to provide for work for disabled people like in the ‘Dawn Avatar Robot Cafe’ in Tokyo where the robots function as waiters.

Rebelgecko 4y ago

The humans also don't have to be local. Seems like a clever way to avoid paying HCOL minimum wage and benefits. Instead of paying someone in LA $15/hr, have some kid in Venezuela do it for $50/month. Latency shouldn't be unmanageable.

everyone 4y ago

This actually gives me an idea for a computer game...

tyingq 4y ago

Their website boasts a lot about L4 autonomy, so maybe just what happens when it sees barrier tape?

joshribakoff 4y ago

Yes the part at the end is the case. Furthermore, the human operators are a “crutch” necessary to develop full autonomy. The alternative is to send someone out to retrieve the robot if it gets stuck (which will continue to for years as the technology is refined)

krisoft 4y ago

> Surely it would be much cheaper to just have a regular guy on a moped in that case? There are two reasons why it makes sense economically: - to deliver by moped you need to live in a reasonable commuting distance to the place where you are delivering. The robot driver can operate from a much lower cost of living area, or even a different lower cost country. - even if you don’t do that and your drivers all operate from a high cost of living area the idea is that your software engineers will keep updating the software and you need less and less human supervision. The first day maybe all your robots are remotely operated 100%. A month later you have a model to drive the robots automatically on the simple straight bits. What you can do then is to have a driver operate maybe two robots. When one finishes with the simple task it can do on its own it waits for the operator. The more fully autonomous you can make the software the more robots a single operator can operate at a time, and the beter your margins will ve. This way your level of autonomy is not a binary perfect or nothing proposition but a sliding scale where as you get better you earn more money.

notatoad 4y ago
don't forget the third reason robots are more economically viable: it's easier to get a VC to give you money if your pitch deck includes terms like robots, AI, and level-4 automation. if you're just hiring scooter drivers, you're going to have to make money the old-fashioned way

t_von_doom 4y ago

Other commenters have covered some economical reasons, but it is also an opportunity to provide for work for disabled people like in the ‘Dawn Avatar Robot Cafe’ in Tokyo where the robots function as waiters.