5 ms·

There is one tiny little mention of Waymo in there but that's clearly the main push for Google in robotics now, and if that's where those robotics aquihires wen

by mousa 9y ago

There is one tiny little mention of Waymo in there but that's clearly the main push for Google in robotics now, and if that's where those robotics aquihires went maybe that's what they wanted.

krisoft 9y ago
I wonder if that's because self-driving cars are not how the general public expects robots to look like. C-3PO, R2-D2, and those orange arms in factories are what most people imagine when they think about robots.
- achamayou 9y ago
  But like the rest of the efforts listed, that's not on the market at the moment. It probably isn't that close either, since there is no official release date.
  - randomdata 9y ago
    Nest and Google Home are on the market. They meet the definition of robot, but fall into the same problem the parent mentions.
- lozenge 9y ago
  Or because it's a bigger market? How much do most Americans spend on transportation compared to say, things that come out of assembly lines? And how much value can robots add to each of those verticals?
  - amelius 9y ago
    A robot that prepares my dinner is more valuable to me than a self driving car. Why? Well, when I leave work, I spend 45 minutes in the car, and another 45 minutes preparing dinner. With self driving cars, that will not change. But with self cooking chefs, that would add 45 minutes of quality time to my day.
    - Eridrus 9y ago
      You can already buy prepared food, the same way you can already get a taxi. The difference is that a self driving taxi will be far cheaper than a taxi, partly because it can be shared. A robot that prepared food already exists, it's called a factory, but food is far more variable in terms of people's desires.
    - petepete 9y ago
      What you really need is a car oven and dashboard hob in your self-driving car.
    - bradleyjg 9y ago
      According to the most recent data from the Department of Transportation, there are 11.3 million motor vehicle accidents a year in America, with 2.4 million people injured in said accidents. 2016 was the deadliest year in almost 10 years, with about 40,000 traffic deaths—up about 2,000 over 2015. The economic impact of car accidents is almost as staggering as the numbers of injuries and lives lost. The total economic impact of car crashes is a whopping $871 billion in the U.S. (http://www.thedrive.com/sheetmetal/13792/car-accidents-caused-americans-432-billion-in-damages-in-2016-alone http://www.thedrive.com/sheetmetal/13792/car-accidents-cause...) The revenue of the entire restaurant industry is less than that total economic impact ($799 billion http://www.restaurant.org/News-Research/Research/Facts-at-a-Glance http://www.restaurant.org/News-Research/Research/Facts-at-a-...)
      - greeneggs 9y ago
        The correct source is: The Economic and Societal Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812013 https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/... Note that these numbers are made up to a certain degree, much more so than the restaurant industry numbers, and so they are not necessarily comparable. The NHTSA puts the value of one life at $8.86 million (in 2010 dollars) [p. 114 of the report]. For 40,000 deaths, that's already $354 billion. They then add other costs, too, which are also hard or impossible to measure.
    - lsc 9y ago
  - hyperbovine 9y ago
    I don't understand this question, all moving vehicles are built on assembly lines.
    - lozenge 9y ago
      Most of your transportation cost isn't buying the vehicle, it's fuel, parking and upkeep. Even in the cost of buying the vehicle, it is already highly automated, how much can more robots decrease the price of the car?
  - petra 9y ago
    In the transportation market, it may be possible to own the ordering and aggregation process , which in certain scenarios become something with a strong network effects, hence strong barriers to competition . Robotics in general may not have strong barriers.
- humanrebar 9y ago
  > I wonder if that's because self-driving cars are not how the general public expects robots to look like. Transformers are cars that drive themselves.
- r00fus 9y ago
  Sure but would people when asked "is the car from Knight Rider a robot?" they'd probably answer yes though they think of it as a car first. I think it's a case that will be reinforced with the first viable self driven car.

by mousa 9y ago

There is one tiny little mention of Waymo in there but that's clearly the main push for Google in robotics now, and if that's where those robotics aquihires went maybe that's what they wanted.

krisoft 9y ago

I wonder if that's because self-driving cars are not how the general public expects robots to look like. C-3PO, R2-D2, and those orange arms in factories are what most people imagine when they think about robots.

achamayou 9y ago
But like the rest of the efforts listed, that's not on the market at the moment. It probably isn't that close either, since there is no official release date.
- randomdata 9y ago
  Nest and Google Home are on the market. They meet the definition of robot, but fall into the same problem the parent mentions.
lozenge 9y ago
Or because it's a bigger market? How much do most Americans spend on transportation compared to say, things that come out of assembly lines? And how much value can robots add to each of those verticals?
- amelius 9y ago
  A robot that prepares my dinner is more valuable to me than a self driving car. Why? Well, when I leave work, I spend 45 minutes in the car, and another 45 minutes preparing dinner. With self driving cars, that will not change. But with self cooking chefs, that would add 45 minutes of quality time to my day.
  - Eridrus 9y ago
    You can already buy prepared food, the same way you can already get a taxi. The difference is that a self driving taxi will be far cheaper than a taxi, partly because it can be shared. A robot that prepared food already exists, it's called a factory, but food is far more variable in terms of people's desires.
  - petepete 9y ago
    What you really need is a car oven and dashboard hob in your self-driving car.
  - bradleyjg 9y ago
    According to the most recent data from the Department of Transportation, there are 11.3 million motor vehicle accidents a year in America, with 2.4 million people injured in said accidents. 2016 was the deadliest year in almost 10 years, with about 40,000 traffic deaths—up about 2,000 over 2015. The economic impact of car accidents is almost as staggering as the numbers of injuries and lives lost. The total economic impact of car crashes is a whopping $871 billion in the U.S. (http://www.thedrive.com/sheetmetal/13792/car-accidents-caused-americans-432-billion-in-damages-in-2016-alone http://www.thedrive.com/sheetmetal/13792/car-accidents-cause...) The revenue of the entire restaurant industry is less than that total economic impact ($799 billion http://www.restaurant.org/News-Research/Research/Facts-at-a-Glance http://www.restaurant.org/News-Research/Research/Facts-at-a-...)
    - greeneggs 9y ago
      The correct source is: The Economic and Societal Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812013 https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/... Note that these numbers are made up to a certain degree, much more so than the restaurant industry numbers, and so they are not necessarily comparable. The NHTSA puts the value of one life at $8.86 million (in 2010 dollars) [p. 114 of the report]. For 40,000 deaths, that's already $354 billion. They then add other costs, too, which are also hard or impossible to measure.
  - lsc 9y ago
- hyperbovine 9y ago
  I don't understand this question, all moving vehicles are built on assembly lines.
  - lozenge 9y ago
    Most of your transportation cost isn't buying the vehicle, it's fuel, parking and upkeep. Even in the cost of buying the vehicle, it is already highly automated, how much can more robots decrease the price of the car?
- petra 9y ago
  In the transportation market, it may be possible to own the ordering and aggregation process , which in certain scenarios become something with a strong network effects, hence strong barriers to competition . Robotics in general may not have strong barriers.
humanrebar 9y ago
> I wonder if that's because self-driving cars are not how the general public expects robots to look like. Transformers are cars that drive themselves.
r00fus 9y ago
Sure but would people when asked "is the car from Knight Rider a robot?" they'd probably answer yes though they think of it as a car first. I think it's a case that will be reinforced with the first viable self driven car.