There's some good points there Sam...especially about the quadcopter form factor 8)
But I don't think this is just about dealing with your forgetfulness. This is really augmenting your cognition and is a form of distributed cognition. When you combine it with wearable displays (see the Google hype wave for Project Glass[1] running today) then these bots allow you to extend your sensory perception across time and space - literally[2]. Personally I'd love to have a persistent video stream as part of my field of vision that lets me quietly stalk my dog when I'm out of the house just so I can see what she does when I'm out 8) Or a million other "body image" extending options that are fed from remote bots all over the world. This is also a huge new tourism opportunity. This kinda relates to the VR thread earlier too and all fits into Milgram's Mixed Reality Continuum[3]. It is just part of how sensors are change who we are[4][5]. Tom, you should also talk to Andra Keay (@andragy) and Michael Harries (@technoist) who are running the Robot Launchpad[6] events starting in the US and hopefully we'll be running some supporting events here in Oz. roBman [1] - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c6W4CCU9M4 [2] - http://www.slideshare.net/robman/the-pervasive-experience-project-review-july-2010 [3] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality%E2%80%93virtuality_continuum [4] - http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/Charles/YOW-2011-Allen-Wirfs-Brock-and-Rob-Manson-Ambient-Computing-Augmented-Reality-and-JavaScript [5] - http://www.slideshare.net/robman/ar-is-the-ui-for-pervasive-computing [6] - http://robotlaunch.com On Thu, 2012-04-05 at 14:46 +1000, Sam Thorp wrote: > This has been the problem plaguing home robotics for years. I spent a > little time over in the US a year or so ago and met one of the Willow > Garage guys, and they're encountering the same problem - everyone > thinks that having a robot in the home would be cool, but nobody can > think of something they'd want it to actually DO. > > > Most of the tedious tasks that people would like to automate are > either too difficult (laundry, housework) or too dangerous (cooking) > for robots to currently perform. Even fetching basic items is a > difficulty - look at the effort it takes the PR2 to fetch a > beer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3Cq0sy4TBs. Most of the other > applications are more easily replicated by phones, such as news > headlines and agenda for the day. The only advantages of a robot over > a phone are its physical presence and the ability to be in places you > aren't. Without any way of interacting with objects, that's kind of > wasted. > > > HOWEVER, some of the ideas are great. I'm definitely of the opinion > that home automation is the future. People tracking for lighting, > heating, cooling, and just finding out where people are? Brilliant. > But a single robot with a single camera can't track everyone in a > house, and even if you have a robot per person, that requires them > being followed around at all times. Not to mention the problem of > stairs. If you want to go further in the home automation space, > there's the android@home framework that will make hacking together > some kind of hardware product a bit easier than working from scratch. > It's also a heck of a lot closer to market. > > > If you're still interested in robots, and I don't blame you, I might > suggest a different form factor. Wheels, or any kind of ground-based > transportation, are a pain. They're allergic to stairs, for one. Plus > they get stuck on things. Why not put the same or similar > functionality on a quadcopter? Have it sit at a base to charge, then > on command it can follow you anywhere around or outside your house, > then sit down wherever you want to perform whatever task you need. > > > Anyway to actually answer your question, here's some functionality I'd > like in a robot/home automation, with examples: > > > - "Did I lock the front door?" "Did I leave the stove on?" - having > something that can monitor your house in your absence. > - "What was on that list again?" - similarly, take a photo of > something (like a list on your fridge) while you're away. > - "Who's at the door?" - tells you who (or at least how many) people > are knocking on the door of your house. Or just projects the feed from > the door cam onto the nearest wall. > - "Feed my pet" - dry food/water can be easily distributed > robotically. > - "Fetch more toilet paper!" - should be self-explanatory. > - "Did I water my petunias yesterday?" - passive task tracking > (difficult to implement. See also "How much did I drink last night?") > - "Hey, you forgot to put out the garbage" - if a certain item is > meant to be in a certain place at a certain time, and it isn't, alert > the user. See also "Didn't you want to take that present with you to > the party?" > - "Huh, you fell down the stairs" - call emergency in case of > witnessing a fall (for the elderly/remarkably clumsy). > - "Baby is near the stove!" - tracking certain objects/people to make > sure they're not in places they shouldn't be. > - "Tell Jane to stop playing outside and come to dinner" - messenger > service. > > > So it turns out most of those are about me being forgetful, but > hopefully they might come in handy. > > > Good luck! > > > Sam > > > > > > On 5 April 2012 13:27, Tom Allen <t...@jugglethis.net> wrote: > I have a hunch that the time is right for a robotics > revolution (only > six years after Bill Gates thought so), and rather than > watching it > pass me by, I intend to start it. I want to build the company > that > puts a robot in every home, and I'd like Silicon Beach to help > me find > the path to that goal. By way of re-introduction, I'm an > Australian > robotics post-doc currently designing and implementing systems > to > control fleets of mining robots for Rio Tinto. > > Phase one of my plan is to build a robot with the following > combination of technologies: a Kinect, a laser-projector, an > omni- > directional mobile platform, and a permanent internet > connection. It > explicitly does not have any manipulators because I don't > believe the > tech is suitable or cheap enough for consumers yet. Likewise > legs, > anthropomorphism, and the idea of robot-as-household-slave. > Targeting > a price point and market similar to a high-end laptop, I want > to > ensure the tech is rock solid, sufficiently cheap, and - in > combination - becomes a platform technology for subsequent > ideas. > > The Kinect lets us build maps and localise using SLAM, perform > face- > tracking and recognition using the camera, and enables voice > control > using the microphone. The projector lets us draw on any > surface (laser > projectors are focus-less), and the omni-directional platform > lets us > keep an image in a stable position while moving the robot > elsewhere. > The permanent internet connection let us farm out > computationally > intensive tasks (like learning, inference, and map correction) > to the > cloud, interact with other internet connected devices in the > home, and > to source exteroceptive sensory data like news, weather, > remote > commands, etc. There's a few other features that are less > interesting > but necessary, like a ring of IR sensors on the base for > short-range > obstacle avoidance, a pan-tilt head for the projector that > lets us > point it somewhere different to the Kinect, and batteries > sufficient > for at least two hours of full activity. To build a business > starting > from this product, it will eventually require an app store > that offers > new applications and tasks, as well as new drivers to control > or > receive information from additional devices. > > Ultimately, I envisage this and subsequent robots as the heart > of an > interconnected home. Like a butler with no arms, but who uses > the > Force to control all your other electronic devices. (OK, that > analogy > could use some work...) > > My question to SB is - what would you like this robot to do? > > Some examples to get the ball rolling: > * Project a ticker-tape of news headlines on your wall. > * Show previews of the shows on other channels onto the space > around > your TV. > * Respond to queries such as "Is Sophie in the Lounge Room?" - > both in > person, and remotely via the web. > * Connect to wifi-enabled lighting and turn it off when people > leave > the room. > * Monitor and log resident's locations and activities over > time, > ultimately to enable applications such as optimising > heating/cooling > in each room. > * Verbally describe your agenda for the day. > * Send you an SMS/email if someone enters your home during the > day, > with video. > * Animate a school of fish swimming across your walls, > avoiding > obstacles such as pictures and doorways. > * Using the SLAM map, calculate the dimensions of the house, > carpeted > area, etc. > * Take the Death Star plans from the princess to Obi-Wan. > > As for the next steps, I'm posting this question because the > biggest > risk factor right now is "does anyone want this?" I work with > a lot of > talented people, many of them wanting to work on cool consumer > technologies such as this, but most too risk adverse to quit > their > salaries and dive in to a pre-revenue startup. I need to find > some > partners - preferably two; one hardware, one a better > programmer than > me - and a mentor who's built a product company before. I've > got leads > in both directions, but nothing solid at this point. Assuming > there's > some interest in the concept (and prior to this question, my > chats at > SB and other networking events have all been enthusiastic, but > there's > a huge selection bias inherent in this) I'm going to run a > hackathon > with a select few workmates and students on my poaching list. > We'll > start by building the sensor/projector part, because our > laboratory > already has the perfect omni-directional platform, and we can > probably > license that tech. Then, with something to show off, I'll > start > pitching for grants and investment. > > Thanks for your time, and I'll definitely be at the Sydney SB > meetup > next week (not tomorrow), and I'm fairly regularly thereafter. > Tom Allen > > (In case anyone thinks I'm plagiarising myself, I first wrote > this > post on Hacker News - > http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3800926 - > please vote it up if you like the concept as I'd appreciate as > much > visibility as I can get.) > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the > Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. Vist > http://siliconbeachaustralia.org for more > > Forum rules > 1) No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. > 2) No jobs postings. You can use > http://siliconbeachaustralia.org/jobs > > > To post to this group, send email to > silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon > Beach Australia mailing list. Vist http://siliconbeachaustralia.org > for more > > Forum rules > 1) No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. > 2) No jobs postings. You can use http://siliconbeachaustralia.org/jobs > > > To post to this group, send email to > silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. Vist http://siliconbeachaustralia.org for more Forum rules 1) No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. 2) No jobs postings. You can use http://siliconbeachaustralia.org/jobs To post to this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en
