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I discuss this a little bit on another thread: (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38461559 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38461559) But the tl;dr is t

I discuss this a little bit on another thread: (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38461559 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38461559) But the tl;dr is that building prototypes is pricey, and the cost should definitely come down once the community moves from prototyping to mass-producing robots. Hello Robots (the company behind the Stretch robot we're using) is also trying to bootstrap and build a sustainable product rather than blitzscaling and burning out fast [0, 1, 2] for which I respect them a lot. It's all too common of a story in robot world where have a great company showing lots of promise and then a year or two later they shut down after burning through investor money. I don't want to see it repeat. [0] https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/25/mayfield-robotics-ceases-production-of-kuri-robot-amid-a-questionable-future/ https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/25/mayfield-robotics-ceases-p... [1] https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/24/23613214/everyday-robots-google-alphabet-shut-down https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/24/23613214/everyday-robots-... [2] https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/19/18682780/jibo-death-server-update-social-robot-mourning https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/19/18682780/jibo-death-serve...

ranting-moth 3y ago
I'm no marketing expert. But I'd think the majority of those who have an extra $20k to splash on a home robot are not the type of people who want to buy a prototype for hacking.
- fragmede 3y ago
  Maybe not the majority, but I think that "early engineers at every Internet startup ever who made it big and want to tinker with a house robot" might be a big enough market to sell a couple of these things. These don't need to be in everyone last person's hands, like smartphones are, in order to be a success. Plus, if you want to use the stereotype that rich people who can drop $20k on random crap don't do things for themselves, why wouldn't the rich person's tech team buy one on their employers dime?

ranting-moth 3y ago

I'm no marketing expert. But I'd think the majority of those who have an extra $20k to splash on a home robot are not the type of people who want to buy a prototype for hacking.

fragmede 3y ago
Maybe not the majority, but I think that "early engineers at every Internet startup ever who made it big and want to tinker with a house robot" might be a big enough market to sell a couple of these things. These don't need to be in everyone last person's hands, like smartphones are, in order to be a success. Plus, if you want to use the stereotype that rich people who can drop $20k on random crap don't do things for themselves, why wouldn't the rich person's tech team buy one on their employers dime?