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Both are expensive e waste, companies come up every 5 years with these "house robots for kids", they're used for about 5 days, I've seen the cycle many times al

Both are expensive e waste, companies come up every 5 years with these "house robots for kids", they're used for about 5 days, I've seen the cycle many times already

random3 2mo ago
Makes sense. Unless you can disassemble/reassemble. I guess selling kits (Meccano, Technics) would be the better approach. I recall countless hours building stuff and my kids love their Magnetiles and everything that lets them build in a free-form.
robotresearcher 2mo ago
The household robot business other than vacuums are a classic way to lose your shirt, sadly. Many, many startups and several megacorps have burned their money. Robots are so fun to make, if you have that spirit in you! But alas they are very, very hard to make valuable outside of manufacturing /warehousing/weapons.
dominotw 2mo ago
nerds cannot resist despite knowing this full well. "for kids"
- deleted 2mo ago
  [deleted]
_carbyau_ 2mo ago
I love Battletech. If the IP holders ever get their shit together and have a properly walking Vulture/Mad-Dog, I'm sold. Bonus points for laser tag capability like those tabletop tanks.
- protocolture 2mo ago
  >If the IP holders ever get their shit together Well they have had a lot of time to get their shit together, and its not even happened a little tiny bit. But maybe one day they will die? And when the Mormon church inherits the IP they might use it a bit better.
  - _carbyau_ 2mo ago
    > Well they have had a lot of time to get their shit together, and its not even happened a little tiny bit. Yeah, they struggle... Though... the Unity-engine based Shadowrun(s)/Battletech were decent. Mechwarrior 5:Mercs (not Clans) with it's doing-the-heavy-lifting mods is fun. But that seems more like them half listening to others-with-a-clue than themselves getting their act together. It is frustrating knowing the wealth of stories they have, and yet they offer precious little.
    - protocolture 2mo ago
      Oh the video games arent toooooo bad. The Battletech devs sold out to Paradox, and then demergered, and when they came out again they no longer own the rights to their own Battletech game. So even if they wanted to do another one it would have to be completely different. Mechwarrior 5 is slowly finding the right place to be, but they fired their lead artist so I dont have a lot of hope anymore.
louky 2mo ago
I got a Big Trak in ~1983 and came back to programming and using it and hacking it over years until it got lost in a fire in my mid-twenties. I'm sure most of those weren't used much. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Trak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Trak

Both are expensive e waste, companies come up every 5 years with these "house robots for kids", they're used for about 5 days, I've seen the cycle many times already

random3 2mo ago

Makes sense. Unless you can disassemble/reassemble. I guess selling kits (Meccano, Technics) would be the better approach. I recall countless hours building stuff and my kids love their Magnetiles and everything that lets them build in a free-form.

robotresearcher 2mo ago

The household robot business other than vacuums are a classic way to lose your shirt, sadly. Many, many startups and several megacorps have burned their money. Robots are so fun to make, if you have that spirit in you! But alas they are very, very hard to make valuable outside of manufacturing /warehousing/weapons.

dominotw 2mo ago

nerds cannot resist despite knowing this full well. "for kids"

deleted 2mo ago
[deleted]

_carbyau_ 2mo ago

I love Battletech. If the IP holders ever get their shit together and have a properly walking Vulture/Mad-Dog, I'm sold. Bonus points for laser tag capability like those tabletop tanks.

protocolture 2mo ago
>If the IP holders ever get their shit together Well they have had a lot of time to get their shit together, and its not even happened a little tiny bit. But maybe one day they will die? And when the Mormon church inherits the IP they might use it a bit better.
- _carbyau_ 2mo ago
  > Well they have had a lot of time to get their shit together, and its not even happened a little tiny bit. Yeah, they struggle... Though... the Unity-engine based Shadowrun(s)/Battletech were decent. Mechwarrior 5:Mercs (not Clans) with it's doing-the-heavy-lifting mods is fun. But that seems more like them half listening to others-with-a-clue than themselves getting their act together. It is frustrating knowing the wealth of stories they have, and yet they offer precious little.
  - protocolture 2mo ago
    Oh the video games arent toooooo bad. The Battletech devs sold out to Paradox, and then demergered, and when they came out again they no longer own the rights to their own Battletech game. So even if they wanted to do another one it would have to be completely different. Mechwarrior 5 is slowly finding the right place to be, but they fired their lead artist so I dont have a lot of hope anymore.

louky 2mo ago

I got a Big Trak in ~1983 and came back to programming and using it and hacking it over years until it got lost in a fire in my mid-twenties. I'm sure most of those weren't used much. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Trak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Trak