I sort of thought it was creative to just stick the eyes at the end of a robot arm. The gripper is sort of the mouth.
Monday, January 13, 2020
I'm calling this the Pan's Labyrinth robot.
I sort of thought it was creative to just stick the eyes at the end of a robot arm. The gripper is sort of the mouth.
Sunday, January 12, 2020
The robot bubble is bursting.
Some of San Francisco's robot-run restaurants are failing. It could simply be that we still want to be served by humans, not machines.
People think that robots are these magical beings that are better at doing things than humans and never need service. There has been trouble brewing in this sector since at least summer. Robots break down ALL the time. And while they do repetitive tasks well, they just don't do them as fast or efficiently as humans. I'm not even sure they do them as cost efficiently as humans honestly.
I have been sitting on a story for weeks about ZUME Pizza which I have never understood. But I try to bitch about stuff less in December. While I am not religious - even I try to give things a rest for one month.
Anyway. I read in November they were getting rid of their robots. Then while I was at CES I heard the had laid off 80% of their staff. Meanwhile just in November the media was still bragging about how much money investors were still pouring into this company. Thankfully they were not around long enough to start putting other pizza places out of business. Because Zume was another one of those companies that was losing to win. They were in no way profitable.
I have never understood the Zume Pizza robot story. Pizza restaurants margins are so razor thin. And robot arms are not cheap. I tried to hunt down a pizza making robot at CES just so I could mock it. Any time I see a robot with hands I just laugh because each hand is 50 grand! FOR JUST ONE HAND. 100 grand for two hands.
So, whatever your robot is doing, it has to return more than 100 grand right off the top!
People think that robots are these magical beings that are better at doing things than humans and never need service. There has been trouble brewing in this sector since at least summer. Robots break down ALL the time. And while they do repetitive tasks well, they just don't do them as fast or efficiently as humans. I'm not even sure they do them as cost efficiently as humans honestly.
I have been sitting on a story for weeks about ZUME Pizza which I have never understood. But I try to bitch about stuff less in December. While I am not religious - even I try to give things a rest for one month.
Anyway. I read in November they were getting rid of their robots. Then while I was at CES I heard the had laid off 80% of their staff. Meanwhile just in November the media was still bragging about how much money investors were still pouring into this company. Thankfully they were not around long enough to start putting other pizza places out of business. Because Zume was another one of those companies that was losing to win. They were in no way profitable.
I have never understood the Zume Pizza robot story. Pizza restaurants margins are so razor thin. And robot arms are not cheap. I tried to hunt down a pizza making robot at CES just so I could mock it. Any time I see a robot with hands I just laugh because each hand is 50 grand! FOR JUST ONE HAND. 100 grand for two hands.
So, whatever your robot is doing, it has to return more than 100 grand right off the top!
Makes no sense to me at all.
Worst application for VR ever. This is how soft we are as people enow. It's also pretty weird because you can buy LED grow lights at Home Depo. They must think we won't have windows in the future.
The overreaching theme this year was.......
That literally everything is going to be voice activated if you want it or not. Even your faucets. It's getting to a point where you will not be able to buy a product that does not have Alexa in it. I even saw a piano that was Alexa enabled.
Have a nice day ya'll.
Saturday, January 11, 2020
Flat panel display cooktop.
I tried to hit the snowscape button to see the other display and these people were on me so quick. They said because it was a conduction cooktop I shouldn't be touching it because anything metal I'm wearing could be a problem.
Now... I've been wanting to upgrade to a conduction cooktop for a little while now. The only reason I haven't is because if I sell my house - that is kind of a negative. You have to replace all of your pots and pans that are not magnetic. And these are still exotic enough that most people don't really get them.
Of course I shot back that most jewelry isn't magnetic. I'm guessing they just didn't have the other display enabled.
Prepare for digital license plates.
I could have taken a video - but I didn't.
I have been seeing demos for these things for a few years now, but this company says they have already signed up a bunch of States. I forget how many. Much more than I expected. I want to say around 10. California is one of them.
You know this will be used for ads. They know it will be used for ads. We all know it will be used for ads. But, suck it up buttercup. This is our future now.
The Audi booth at CES 2020.
I don't think Audi really had anything interesting this year......... but, their booth was on point. Normally they have an all off white theme that is really hard to photograph well. This year they had these streamers which were cooler than the cars. And yes - sometimes it's more fun to play with the packaging than the product.
In general I'm just not loving the style of cars right now.
2020 Toyota Supra in the wild.
I'm not sure I love it - but it's the first time I've seen one. When I took my truck in for maintenance two weeks ago the Toyota people told me that people were paying 50 grand over list price.
Couldn't get a great shot. This guy was zipping in and out of spots and traffic in the Bay Area is savage today. There is a game at Levi Stadium. I was in a truck.
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