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Comment by rsync | Hacker News Reader

I don't think this is the killer app for robotics.

I think the killer app - and something I would pay for immediately - is a moveable platform programmed to travel between waypoints.

So, a platform that stays level regardless of terrain and you put stuff on it and tell it to go to the (living room, backyard, carport, barn, whatever).

I arrive home with a load of groceries and I put four bags on this platform and press the "kitchen" button.

That's it. Just a magic box that transports (slowly) things to places around your yard/property/warehouse.

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I share your sentiments. A simple (hah!) robot that can carry ~20-50lb loads while traversing suburban/urban terrains and navigate stairs between two pre-set points. Would make a huge difference for those that are elderly and/or have some limited mobility. Hell, I would buy it just to have one less thing to worry about when I'm with the kids.

85 lbs. One bag of cement + a margin. This covers most tools, a bale of hay, a bag of feed, a big bag of cement.

Work with boston dynamics to make the Spot robot arm into a self-leveling gimbal table, and let the robot run around your house, and I think you're golden. Make it respond to voice commands, and you'll be even shinier.

Yes, Spot + a repurposed pro camera gimbal could do this today. However the cost needs to come down by about 100x.

Chinese already have it at 1/10th although this balancing algo from MIT seems like what's missing still in PRD.

Hardware that can move stuff between arbitrary endpoints? Sounds great

Checks username

Ahaha

My dream robot actuator acts like one of those long trash grabbers, but it's a laser you point at whatever you want to pick up.

Then, you can drop it at a second place you shine the laser.

(The robot itself could be a kind of dumb RC car kind of thing that you are basically driving by shining the laser)

I agree, but it'd have to be fast (as fast as walking probably) and float to not kill my pets or children. That's tough.

Float? That’s extreme. If you are concerned about children and pets (i.e. moving objects) then you just need it to not put down its foot where something is - it can just pause until the object has moved out of its way.

Reminds me of The Luggage from Discworld.

I want something that can get the washing out of the machine and hang it on a rack to dry.

and if it's well behaved it can even navigate to your neighbor (slowly)

put a robot arm on your robot table, along with an avocado, onions, cilantro, salt and pepper, (edit: lime!) and have it make guac on the way to my table!

it can clean the plates on its way back

I think people vastly underestimate the amount of fetching and cleaning that goes into cooking. If you can load all that onto a table, a knife + arms are doing the easy part.

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