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The things I want to automate are expensive to do so. I'm talking about things like the dishes and the laundry and commuting. I have a house cleaner that comes

The things I want to automate are expensive to do so. I'm talking about things like the dishes and the laundry and commuting. I have a house cleaner that comes periodically, but I'd be spending a lot more (and have a lot more intrusion on my privacy) if it were daily / nightly. The automated driving component might work. Maybe if I lease a black hybrid, have the driver be my employee, and let him do uber on off hours, it could actually net money. But setting this up sounds complicated. If only I could automate it.

jacquesm 14y ago
The dishes, the laundry and commuting have already been automated. Washing machines, dish washers, cars and public transport all made our lives so much easier that we seem to have forgotten the amount of labor that went into such simple tasks in the past. So now we look to automate the remnant of actually having to operate the machinery. It's interesting because it shows how spoiled we've become. Even loading or unloading a washing machine or dishwasher are now considered work.
- thaumaturgy 14y ago
  "Spoiled" is a funny way to describe avoiding doing things that I don't mind doing, but still are taking my attention away from other things I should be doing instead.
- ShawnBird 14y ago
  Well we have huge populations with shrinking labor markets, it is starting to make sense to hire people to do things like this.
- enraged_camel 14y ago
  Yes, but what you call the "remnant" still takes too much time. Laundry requires me to sort clothes, put them in a bag, carry them to my building's laundry room, load up and configure the machines, then set a timer so that I don't forget to go back and pick them up. I then need to fold the clothes and put them in their corresponding drawers or hang them in the closet. The worst part in all this is that even though I am not doing the actual task of washing the clothes, I still need to block off a time period, meaning I can't actually be in another location doing other things while laundry is getting done. Similarly, doing the dishes and commuting can still be annoying despite the automation. Loading and unloading dishes takes a fair amount of time. Commuting requires having to schedule one's time around bus and train schedules.
  - sliverstorm 14y ago
    What is "too much", really? More than zero? You make laundry sound like a daunting chore, but I know I don't spend more than ten minutes a week on it.
    - drewcrawford 14y ago
      Laundry is definitely a pain point. You first have the chore of removing and subsequently installing fitted sheets, which are certainly not zero-insertion force. And the folding and sorting of the clothing (distributing towels to bathrooms, etc.) This requires enough seek time to at least hit each room once, and in the case of suboptimal routing, probably twice. In the case the laundromat, you have the carting of multiple baskets of clothes and materials, often down flights of stairs, into a vehicle, and at some distance. Materials experience spillage. A community (e.g. apartment complex) laundromat eliminates some travel, but your quarter supply may vary unexpectedly, requiring unexpected travel. This probably amortizes to eliminate the gain. In the case of doing laundry at home, you have both an infrastructure cost and a pipelining problem. Speaking for myself, I can rarely accomplish anything useful during a laundry cycle, leading to a near-total loss.
- ivankirigin 14y ago
  Your comment about remnant is needless because obviously I'm talking about the machines I use. And yes I'm talking about the 30 to 120 minutes I spend daily on these things, as if a >10% increase of free waking hours isn't a big deal.

jacquesm 14y ago

The dishes, the laundry and commuting have already been automated. Washing machines, dish washers, cars and public transport all made our lives so much easier that we seem to have forgotten the amount of labor that went into such simple tasks in the past. So now we look to automate the remnant of actually having to operate the machinery. It's interesting because it shows how spoiled we've become. Even loading or unloading a washing machine or dishwasher are now considered work.

thaumaturgy 14y ago
"Spoiled" is a funny way to describe avoiding doing things that I don't mind doing, but still are taking my attention away from other things I should be doing instead.
ShawnBird 14y ago
Well we have huge populations with shrinking labor markets, it is starting to make sense to hire people to do things like this.
enraged_camel 14y ago
Yes, but what you call the "remnant" still takes too much time. Laundry requires me to sort clothes, put them in a bag, carry them to my building's laundry room, load up and configure the machines, then set a timer so that I don't forget to go back and pick them up. I then need to fold the clothes and put them in their corresponding drawers or hang them in the closet. The worst part in all this is that even though I am not doing the actual task of washing the clothes, I still need to block off a time period, meaning I can't actually be in another location doing other things while laundry is getting done. Similarly, doing the dishes and commuting can still be annoying despite the automation. Loading and unloading dishes takes a fair amount of time. Commuting requires having to schedule one's time around bus and train schedules.
- sliverstorm 14y ago
  What is "too much", really? More than zero? You make laundry sound like a daunting chore, but I know I don't spend more than ten minutes a week on it.
  - drewcrawford 14y ago
    Laundry is definitely a pain point. You first have the chore of removing and subsequently installing fitted sheets, which are certainly not zero-insertion force. And the folding and sorting of the clothing (distributing towels to bathrooms, etc.) This requires enough seek time to at least hit each room once, and in the case of suboptimal routing, probably twice. In the case the laundromat, you have the carting of multiple baskets of clothes and materials, often down flights of stairs, into a vehicle, and at some distance. Materials experience spillage. A community (e.g. apartment complex) laundromat eliminates some travel, but your quarter supply may vary unexpectedly, requiring unexpected travel. This probably amortizes to eliminate the gain. In the case of doing laundry at home, you have both an infrastructure cost and a pipelining problem. Speaking for myself, I can rarely accomplish anything useful during a laundry cycle, leading to a near-total loss.
ivankirigin 14y ago
Your comment about remnant is needless because obviously I'm talking about the machines I use. And yes I'm talking about the 30 to 120 minutes I spend daily on these things, as if a >10% increase of free waking hours isn't a big deal.