Re:I Toured Unitree's Factory. I'm More Bullish on the West
by bad_haircut72 on Friday November 06, 2026 @10:52PM
(#50401464)
The opportunity for the west is that an engineer with todays resources can work on building [1] for $5-10k and get into the DC motor business from your shed. Im working on this myself right now, I want to try and start an autonomous manufacturing company here in Australia, maybe I'll start with motors
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Re:I Toured Unitree's Factory. I'm More Bullish on the West
by idiotsecant on Friday November 06, 2026 @11:13PM
(#50401540)
Are you winding something in an incredibly specialized kV / wattage / torque or something? DC motors are incredibly inexpensive, how could a hobbyist sell them?
Re:I Toured Unitree's Factory. I'm More Bullish on the West
by jacquesm on Friday November 06, 2026 @11:18PM
(#50401560)
The only problem with PM motors is magnets. Everything else is trivial.
Re:I Toured Unitree's Factory. I'm More Bullish on the West
by ulaw on Saturday November 07, 2026 @12:32AM
(#50401927)
Rotorlab (rotorlab.com.au) are or were doing this in Australia.
They had a couple of posts about their machinery: a winding machine, CNC mill, etc.
I believe they were bought out pretty quickly by a US company. Can't recall who though.
Re:I Toured Unitree's Factory. I'm More Bullish on the West
by Alien1Being on Saturday November 07, 2026 @06:23AM
(#50403565)
The problems with Australia are:
1. The terrible quality of the locally manufactured items. I am in Sydney and will absolutely not buy anything marked Made In Australia. I have been burnt too many times.
2. The nearly 100% mortality rate among the companies.
Re:I Toured Unitree's Factory. I'm More Bullish on the West
by unrented7977 on Saturday November 07, 2026 @09:47AM
(#50405009)
Companies survive longer when you buy from them
Re:I Toured Unitree's Factory. I'm More Bullish on the West
by ragebol on Saturday November 07, 2026 @02:59PM
(#50407516)
> you
No, that is only one customer. There need to be lots of customers for a company to survive. So, ideally you recommend, based on good quality.
You take a bit of a gamble if you need warranty or customer service later on.
Some sort of network effect again, I suppose. There's a better term that's can't find now.
Re:I Toured Unitree's Factory. I'm More Bullish on the West
by Alien1Being on Sunday November 08, 2026 @02:41AM
(#50411197)
People tend to buy from companies with reasonable quality products.
Australian made products unfortunately do not pass that initial hurdle..