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Every single attempt at lifelike autonomous hardware over the last few decades has been a bottomless money pit, and despite all the recent advances the entire f
by paxys 10mo ago
Every single attempt at lifelike autonomous hardware over the last few decades has been a bottomless money pit, and despite all the recent advances the entire field is yet to be proven. A partnership with a robotics company is probably the best outcome for Google at this stage, because it will let them focus on what they do best - software
- ghaff 10mo agoHumans are often really good at unstandardized tasks that require a lot of physical manipulation even when they're considered "unskilled" or at least blue collar. I think of so many things I pay people to do with respect to my house and the idea that autonomous hardware could handle pretty much any of them is pretty much laughable. There are probably some exceptions. I can imagine robo lawnmowers getting good enough to handle my yard at some point if not adjacent cleanup. But doing a monthly housecleaning? Don't think so. (And a Roomba really wouldn't be very useful; it's barely useful at my brother's house that is practically built for a Roomba.)
- silisili 10mo agoI agree completely with this. However, houses and things inside it were designed by humans for humans, for either aesthetic or 'easy for humans to do' reasons. I sometimes wonder then what if they were designed from the ground up with let's call it 'robot repairability'/automation in mind. I don't know exactly what that looks like, but I'd imagine a lot more modular, a lot more brutalist/uglier, and probably a lot more expensive. But it's an interesting thing to think about nonetheless.
- emmelaich 10mo agoI see a future where some humanoid robot mows the lawn, picks up trash, puts the bins outside weekly, vacuums the house, loads the dishwasher, does the clothes washing. While not actively doing those things, it will plug itself in and be passive security. They will need help doing the finer control things, and they won't do everything. But definitely useful enough, especially for older folk.
- seanmcdirmid 10mo agoI have a town home, so not ideal for a Roomba but...I have a Eufy now and having it (mostly) mop/(some) vacuum my kitchen/living room every night has been a huge improvement to keeping the floor clean (before something gets stuck on it between when I can do it on the weekend). Chinese tech has come a long way in the last 5 years. Roomba just went bankrupt for a good reason.
- coro_1 10mo agoYes even lifts, pickers, etc are in the realm of not having financial-econ impact for the groups that have invested or bought them.
- zipy124 10mo agoI don't think that's true at all. I had warehouse experience before going into software and automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) such as the mini-load type systems are vastly impactful. They are far superior to forklift based retrieval or worse still, human picking.
- deleted 10mo ago[deleted]