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- Hacker News
- Its main responsibility will be to stand in my front window and make the JO sign when my neighbor drives by
- Based on the video evidence with the eyes widening down the page I suspect that this robot can do that for you. I think if it rotated that wrist-cam around to be on top that it can even simulate flipping them off with the other hand. Legendary!
- It looks nice but it also saddens me a bit. You did all the easy and nice work to design a nice form factor and make a nice website, but you left all the hard work for the customer ... Not sure what to think. Maybe if the marketing was more honest (not cherry picked) I would be more positive.by amelius
- RPi5 seems a bit underpowered for all the sensors & control and offloading to a computer through wifi seems problematic. A Jetson Orin Nano would seem to be a better choice for a robot. Unfortunately Nvidia recently substantially increased the prices for their jetson devkits due to component shortages (DRAM,storage, etc), and what was $250 now costs $499 :(by slug
- My concern is whether the robot can cook with exposed wires, is it waterproof or resistant to hot oil? tasks like washing dishes are valuable skills for this kind of robots.
Robot race for the upcoming years is going to be wild, being able to do core tasks with just a raspberry sounds great. Hope you can evolve and improve this over the coming years.
by noxss - The site is broken can’t see much, but it would be great to know or show list of the components or BOM, as from experience, some companies cheap on certain sensors/motors etc.by tamimio
- My question would be how riffable is it? I don't have 10-20k to drop on a robot. I work for co-ops so while I make good money(90k~ pretty good!) its less than I could make else where but the trade off is I have more time to build random stuff. 2k is the price point for me where I might buy a big thing every so many years, teaching this to play board games, making new hands for it, teaching it to clean etc would be fun and at a price point that works for me. I would probably want a suction attachment for the fingers so it could handle cards and other flat tokens but that seems simple enough to build given the 3d models for printing are included.
I could see myself printing all sorts of costumes for it and using it as an ad hoc characters for tabletop games or as a spare bandmate if I ever finish my synth.
"We make money by selling the hardware for $1,688, with optional paid software on top."
The software would have to be quite good and also affordable for me to consider it, as all subscriptions are liabilities. I might one day want my robot to go with me to a show or to do something meaningful. Whenever that happens I will NOT be held hostage by software and will either source my own software or replace parts of the hardware till something works before I keep throwing money at a bad service. I would prefer to just have a good vendor supported software that I don't have to think about but I have trust issues. Privacy would be a huge concern, I can't have this in my garage lab with all my stuff being sent back to your servers for computer vision tasks etc.
by mrnotcrazy - I'm confused, is this a research device, hobby/tinker item, or consumer product?
I don't mean to be negative, but making a sustainable business on a hardware race to the bottom sounds challenging.
I'd be curious to to know from others here, what in-home tasks do people think they'll really be able to automate with any of the various bimanual or humanoid robot platforms that seem to be going around?
by mNovak - Nothing, none of these are good enough to do any home tasks reliably. These are all research/hobbyist devices that won't be interesting for another 5-10 years. Probably a bunch of fun to play around with though.
- So many moving parts that can break. I am already sad my robot vacuum cleaner broke (it's the moving lidar that broke). I have to send the entire thing including dock back to the manufacturer (very expensive).
My preference would be ifixit level guides where you can easily replace parts yourself. Then it would be perfect if the same servo is used everywhere so I can have 3 or 4 stored somewhere.
by whazor - In general, a cost optimized robotic platform for a consumer market, has inverse specifications compared with reliable industrial robotics.
Industrial robotics like all machinery can be dangerous, and could still get your firm slapped with an export restriction. A lose-lose product class from a business perspective. =3
by Joel_Mckay - 1. Does this require internet connectivity? If Nori goes out of business, can we keep using these?
2. Is the app distributed as an APK outside of the Play Store? Does it have any hard requirements on GMS that would prevent users of degoogled devices from using it?
3. Is every function available through the app possible to perform or recreate with the open SDK? Is this robot (now, and in the future) going to be accessible to technically competent folks who don't own a smartphone at all?
4. Is there a privacy policy on your website for the robot itself? Is there any telemetry? What kind? Will it be recording me without me asking it to? Is the software that ships on it totally open source?
Cool project! I might be quite interested, depending on how much it respects user freedoms and privacy.
by anonym29 - Where are you guys in SF? Would love to come see it. Mostly interested in seeing the speed of action (what multiple is the video replay at, etc.) and looking at center-of-mass etc. issues. I have a pretty straightforward use-case in a home. The Dreame we have in the living room is pretty good at avoiding most obstacles, but I usually have an LLM-based agent review the image automatically and either send out the vacuum or suggest moving things that would foul it up. Works great. Obviously substituting with a humanoid capable of reaching ground height things and picking up children's toys etc. would be great.
I'd want to bolt it with a mount to the wall when not in use because it needs to be climb-resistant for children during the daytime when I don't need it functional but there is a solid 8 hour 2200->0700 window when no one will be in the living room and speed is not an issue.
I was talking to my wife about this device and actually the wheeled form factor and (probably) no control software for balance is a feature for our use-case because when the Unitree G1 or whatever falls over the result is catastrophic. The balance control software attempts pure insanity and will likely kill a child nearby.
by arjie - The home use-case sounds pretty interesting, especially the idea of having an 8-hour window where speed doesn't really matter. Do you think a robot like this could eventually be more useful at home precisely because it can move slowly and safely, rather than trying to optimize for human-like speed?by listingbott
- Wow, I have the exact same use case. Just move stuff off the floor so my vacuum robot can run and my life will improve 3-4x. Easy $2000 buy.
The matic is being sold as one with better obstacle avoidance and I have no doubt it does but the point is I want the obstacle out away and the floor cleaned underneath.
by pj_mukh - Looks cool.
Can you be up front about its real capabilities. Are these videos of it eg tidying up real or just staged / cherry picked?
If you let it loose in a messy room or stirring something in a kitchen, what are the genuine results you would expect in the wild?
We’re all used to seeing things like Atlas back flipping but then can’t do anything in a real environment. Just curious how this fits in and what the success / fail rate is.
by jonplackett - That video of it folding clothes would seem to hint at that. It's only able to awkwardly throw it into a pile, but they still included it. It's clearly a very cool project, but it suggests the claimed capabilities are more show than substance.by jdiff
- The biggest problem is they are using RC style servos. This is why all the arm motions are jerky and lack precision.
What this means: No force feedback on positioning. Jerky motion due to actuator steps. Limited precision. Terrible slow motion control performance. Fast movements will look better. Inability to solve problems with software.
Basically think of all the joints like those cheap thermal camera screens that are at 320 x 240 resolution. For rough work or finding some sort of oddity your good, but anything precise you need to spend real money. It's a pretty cool toy, but don't go buying this expecting that much.
by elictronic - whats the alternative to servos that give precise movement and control via software.
- It reminds me of how the first Terminator moved because of the stop motion effects.
- Well, if it can fold my laundry and do the dishes, then jerky movements don't matter to me. I suppose precision can be fixed with camera feedback.
And those force feedback actuators use significantly more power.
by amelius - Is it possible to use the PWM signal from some RC servos to measure feedback at the motor?by 4d4m