Google Parent Alphabet Shuts Down Yet Another Robot Project (theverge.com) 19
Alphabet is shutting down its Everyday Robots project -- another casualty of job cuts at Google's parent company and the latest in a long list of failed hardware ventures. From a report: According to a report from Wired, Everyday Robots will no longer exist as a discrete team at the tech giant. "Everyday Robots will no longer be a separate project within Alphabet," Denise Gamboa, director of marketing and communications for Everyday Robots, told the publication. "Some of the technology and part of the team will be consolidated into existing robotics efforts within Google Research." Everyday Robots launched in 2019, with an aim of designing armed robots that could help out in domestic and office settings; taking on light custodial work like sorting trash and cleaning tables. The project's prototype, single-armed, wheeled robots were tested in Google's offices from 2021, and in 2022 received an upgrade courtesy of Google's AI language research, letting them process natural language commands.
armed robots, phrasing! (Score:4, Interesting)
Not what I thought it meant, would 'robots with arms' be any better?
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While that is true, as long as Google can keep a monopoly, it can afford a lot of hobbies that can benefit the rest of us. Unfortunately, that means no newspapers can survive, but oh well.
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Not what I thought it meant, would 'robots with arms' be any better?
Ok, I think this is obligatory here: Dr. Death's Giant Death Ray [youtube.com] The relevant bit is at 3:20, but I would recommend watching the whole thing.
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Not what I thought it meant, would 'robots with arms' be any better?
Depends what they meant by "taking out the trash".
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patents.
it would not surprise me if this was the only product created at everyday robots
Armed (Score:2)
Oh, so like the ED-209 from Robocop and the Aperture Science turret that protects our babies.
"Would you like a cup of tea?" (Score:1)
What could possibly go wrong with an armed robot [blogtorwho.com]?
Yeah, I know, it's not a robot, but oh well....
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What could possibly go wrong with an armed robot [blogtorwho.com]?
Yeah, I know, it's not a robot, but oh well....
You've got a point though. In the episode, the British army _thought_ it was a helpful robot, until it turned out to actually be a small tank for a small mutated alien that despises all other life and wants to either subjugate or outright destroy it and was merely pretending to be a robot. That's a thing that could go wrong. I mean, not very likely, but you never know.
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until it turned out to actually be a small tank for a small mutated alien that despises all other life and wants to either subjugate or outright destroy it and was merely pretending to be a robot.
I think you might've finally explained Elon Musk!
Tech companies the past decade overextended (Score:1)
For a little over the past decade, Tech companies seemed to be overextending themselves with these crazy projects, in hope they can regain the glory of their pasts with coming out with the next new thing.
This comes at the expense of companies doing real R&D where researchers often will do real science, funded by the company, at the cost of giving the company first dibs at Patent rights, With proper R&D a lot of great research can be done that can profit the company in the long run, but it will also
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The rich are undertaxed and thus have too much money, spending it on pie-in-sky investments.
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I don't disagree with your politics. However, your statement about heavy taxation will curb risky ideas doesn't seem hold too true.
What usually separates the rich from the poor is the amount of risk one is willing to take. Now these people who are risk takers who succeed in life generally, can be like that because they grew up wealthy and have a safety net, such as a trust fund, or mommy and daddy, so they can afford to throw away a lot of money onto a risky idea. While someone who grew up poor, doesn't
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I'm not saying to get rid of the rich, only to have fewer of them. Too much money chasing too few ideas creates nasty bubbles anyhow. Taxing the rich thus may smooth out the boom/bust cycle a bit.
problem with robots (Score:2)
Problem with robots is, it's capability is no where close to it's expectations. something as simple as, "get me a cup of water" is already a huge problem for it. By the end of the day most robot project ends up becoming some sort of STEM toy because the developers don't know what to do with it.
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It all depends on your expectations. We have had the wrong expectations. We can do an excellent robot right now that can fulfill the task "Go to Jim's cubicle and make fart noises."
Yet again (Score:2)
Another new resident of Google's island of misfit toys.