Join the discussion

Write your take first — we'll ask for email only when you're ready to publish.

  • Hacker News
  • I love this future. A robot that does all the chores relentlessly of the house while you spend time just working on the stuff you like.
  • I think this robot is really well-made! Xiaomi seems to be quite controversial these days, but personally, I still really like the brand.
  • I have Roborock (Xiaomi) automatic vacuum and it's fantastic technology. iRobot had a 10 year lead and did nothing with it. The robot is competent at avoiding clutter, clean the mops itself, leave my floor sparkling and so far has been extremely reliable.
  • Got two Xiaomi phones in a row, one in 2018 for 250 euros (note 8 pro) and one in 2023 for 300 (13T) and I liked them a lot.

    My gripe with the second one is lowish battery life, it always bites me on longer trips when my gf's Pixel 8 lasts considerably more, but was also way more expensive.

    Will check battery reviews better next time I shop for a phone, I don't care much for the rest.

  • Does this require a given hardware platform, or for example, could I run this model with a cheap mini robot with a single camera (i.e. good enough without depth), tracked treads, and an arm?
  • I’d imagine the training is hardware specific
  • When the page says "embodiment-free (UMI)" it means they've used a standardised gripper and camera arrangement [1], while aiming to be agnostic to the type of robot arm that gripper is attached to.

    [1] https://umi-gripper.github.io/

  • This is amazing! I can see in a few years having Home Assistant use an LLM to coordinate my home while I'm away. Tell the LLM to make an inventory of my home and then send the vacuum and the robot around to clean everything up. A multimodal LLM can inspect pictures for items that need to go in the dishwasher, the laundry or needs polishing and reorganise my closets to best allocate space, make the beds, take care of the plants. It has all day to do it while the solar panels provide ample energy anyway.
  • then this robot will have a face, a soothing voice and a personality...

    we all know where this is going ;-)

  • Designing a non humanoid robot is the way to go. The design of new tools and appliances for hybrid human/robot use will eventually follow: the zip line for the shoe bag required way too much precision work.
    by agys
  • Exactly what I came here to say. A robot doesn't have to look like a human. Just a few arms that does the job neatly is more than enough.
  • I will suggest mix of both: some everyday tools are already built for being used with hands and legs (e.g opening a door). But indeed adding some different grip types, additional arms, etc, could be helpful.
  • I think this perspective is now demonstrably false. It was basically the defacto position of most roboticists until a few months back. But we've already seen the cost of humanoid robots fall precipitously (even without the kind of mass production that genuinely useful home and real world intelligence would bring).

    Which seems more likely, that cheap humanoids will continue to improve in dexterity, battery life, strength etc. Leveraging the vast investment in research into real world task training. Or - that we'll redesign millions of everyday objects to fit the limitations of current task specific robots?

    If you answer the latter, I've got a whole bunch of mid century quirky labour saving inventions in the back room I'd like to sell you.

  • I can't believe someone shares my point of view. We have already many non humanoid robots to do boring stuff (underwater maintenance, stuff like that). For some reasons people tend to think that for robots to do stuff close to humans, we need human like robots.

    We do not. I want a swarm of insects-like robots to fight mosquitos. A snake one that fixes my pipe. A spider-like robot that cleans surfaces. Etc.

  • The uncut footage is so awesome.

    Of course, you can mention all the things they can't do (what if there are stairs, what if the doors are smaller than the robot, etc) but it's mindblowing to see what they can do - and also the chat panel is really nice and makes it more interactive.

    by mk89
  • It's happening so fast now.

    AI will absolutely dominate our future. I believe we have only scratched the surface of what is possible.

    Maybe I'm pessimistic but I always thought Bill Joy was prescient.

    https://www.wired.com/2000/04/joy-2/

    by Gud
  • this is what excites me most about the probable AI future. househelp is cheaply and easily accessible for most people in the east, however being able to afford a cleaner or maid in the west is a luxury. i spent a ginormous amounts of time every week keeping my house in shape. i look forward to the day when i will be able to carve out that time and get it back for myself.
  • I wonder, what will you do with that free time you will crave?
  • I think anything more advanced than a Roomba won't be cheaper than a maid for actually cleaning your house.
  • Househelp isn't cheaply and easily accessible for most people in the east, a large portion of people in the east is just poor but you don't consider them in 'most people'.
  • Coining the term: Slopfold

    When you Robot folds your clothes but it's kinda wrinkly and sloppy but you accept it anyway because it's easier than precisely folded and pressed clothes.

  • How privileged was your upbringing?
  • When AI is a the forefront of scientific breakthroughs and all human endeavor is painfully minuscule compared to AI, we'll still be calling it slop as we all hypocritically generate more and more slop.
  • I suspect you might be jumbling up your smalls with your origami.
  • Folding clothes is already a compromise between leaving them unfolded and hanging them
  • saw the way it folded the clothes and thought "better than me" :/
  • Isn't that the story of <any> technology? When the coffee machines first came to be, Barista was definitely a better option. However, through the evolution, in many cases today machine does better job than barista.
  • I have been slopfolding since before it was cool
  • Watching the two-handed robot has me thinking that a third hand, perhaps with a different set of capabilities (like a tentacle grip) might make many tasks easier. I realise that more limbs = more problems, but even so, having additional ways to hold and turn things would be a big help.
  • tentacle grip.... giggidy giggigdy gooooo