Thursday, September 27, 2018

Why the hype of robots taking your job is longer off than you think.



I was initially interested in this robot because it had THREE lidar systems, an array of 360 cams. And I was mildly curious about the arm because it feels like the robots have come out of the primordial ooze of evolution and are regressing. So it was a bit of an oddity to see a robot with arms again.

This was a research project so the guy could be a little more honest. He wasn't selling anything.

I was asking him about the lidar because that's my jam right now, and he told me that the robot wasn't working so he couldn't show it. Something always seems to get broken in shipping, so you kind of get used to not seeing things work. But he said he had it working that morning but the battery had died.

So I took that opportunity to ask him - how long can you run on a charge? He replied - about an hour. And even I was a little shocked about the low run time.

What most people don't understand is - those arms take a lot of power. I think next time you might just get an article with pictures of the back of these things showing the power supply requirements. For most of them, you can't just plug this into a socket. You need some serious power. And that is hell on batteries.

This was built on a Segway, so you can imagine how much those batteries must weigh.

So when everyone was freaking out about robots taking their jobs a while back,  it just made me crazy.  I should have paid more attention to the power setup for the smallest arms, but that is essentially why robots won't be taking your jobs as soon as you think.

4 comments:

  1. What's next, an Elmerfuddbot that will hunt down the wascally Jackrabbots who went rogue after downloading an unauthorized AI upgrade?

    "AIN'T. AI. A. STINKER."

    The puns will get even worse, of course. :-)

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  2. Okaaaaay. But there are rules to going down this road.

    First I will try to ignore you. Don't try to say them louder. I heard you. See step 1.

    You can still make puns - but I will only think 5% of them are funny. Tops. But since you are a dude, that won't stop you. So my advice is - just be better.

    Because I'm ~not~ a dude.

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  3. I was thinking about this guy from Texas who also likes him some rules ...

    Although saying "sumbitch" really is a Florida thing, especially North Florida, just so you know.

    But I do have to say that this is the first thing that came to mind about your rules.

    I'm gonna enjoy me some more of the Finer Southern Classics, you just have fun with those rules now! :-)

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  4. Yeah I'm married, I figured that was the response I was gonna get. The BBQ menu was low. That's the part that stings. Man I'm gonna have to make it back to Texas.

    I just don't understand what it is about dudes and their puns.

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