Is the autonomous car really the robotics killer app? I don't doubt that the autonomous car will reshape more than one industry (real estate, insurance, and transportation spring to mind), but I think proper robots might allow us to shed so many assumptions about what is possible that it's actually currently difficult to imagine all the things they will end up being used for.
Re:Google Acquires Boston Dynamics
by robotresearcher on Saturday December 14, 2013 @04:52PM
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It will save around 20,000 lives every year in the US alone. And prevent many more serious long-term injuries. What other household robot will have such an impact on families?
Don't get me wrong, self-driving cars are the human advancement that I am most looking forward to.
I think they will both be extremely big changes in different ways. Autonomous cars will be one big impact that indirectly touches many industries. Robots are going to get into everything, and the world will look very different at the end of it.
Robots will do farming, cleaning, food preparation, fire rescues, surgery, manufacturing. Basically, whatever parts of the world software can't eat, robots probably can.
I think a plain old "getter" would be fun. I'm on a chair and I want something to get that thing on the out of reach coffee table and bring it to me. Like a roomba with a camera and an arm.
Re:Google Acquires Boston Dynamics
by lifeisstillgood on Saturday December 14, 2013 @04:54AM
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it is however a really good question - not just good on him, but inspiring to us all.
Re:Google Acquires Boston Dynamics
by robotresearcher on Saturday December 14, 2013 @07:35PM
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(late edit: not Heartland: Rethink Robotics. They renamed before Baxter launched.)
But there is a real gap here: You probably don't have any problems that a simple robot would fix. You can buy a Roomba if you want. The killer app for robots is the autonomous car, and that is coming. No one has figured out what you want a robot for in that huge gap. Heartland has a nifty $20K robot that will do light handling tasks. You still don't want one.
If you can think of a robot version of the little software projects, good on you.