Here's a breakdown of the major themes from the Hacker News discussion, with supporting quotes:
Humor and Tone of the Original Article
Several commenters reacted to the article's humor, both positively and negatively.
- Positive Reaction: "Clearly not - it's quite funny (or at least I thought so)." - dmillard
- Negative Reaction: "The future part didn’t land for me at all. To me it just goes completely off the rails." - gdiamos
Google's Robotics Acquisitions and Leadership
The discussion touched on Google's past endeavors in robotics, specifically highlighting the acquisition of robotics companies and the subsequent departure of Andy Rubin.
- Management's Role: "The problem with Google's robotics acquisitions was that they fired Andy Rubin less than a year after he made them. They floundered after that. It's clear that Google's management simply didn't have the patience to continue putting money into hardware development before the software was ready. " - modeless
- Andy Rubin's Departure: "Worth remembering he was fired due to sexual harassment[0]. While Google did the right thing in firing him, they deserve far more criticism for the cover ups. Both of which are frankly unacceptable" - no_wizard
- Profit vs. Ethics: "Given the choice between having a sexual harasser on staff, or missing out on a billion dollars of profit, every company in the world will choose to keep the sexual harasser and the profit, so that can't be the only reason." - immibis
The Unrealized Potential of Telepresence Robots
A significant portion of the discussion focused on why telepresence robots never achieved mainstream popularity, despite early predictions.
- Low Adoption: "Because almost nobody has ever seen a telepresence robot in use. Like, factually." - Groxx
- Friction and Cost: "For the latter: because it's far higher friction than a phone call (or any similar tool). On the extreme end, I can walk into a meeting room and push a couple buttons and have a zoom meeting. And doing that with your computer or phone is significantly easier, often just one or two buttons whether you're a two person business or 200k." - Groxx
- Limited Benefits: "Versus telepresence robots at the simplest: it requires charging, far more complicated UI to do anything that a video call cannot do, and is many times more expensive so you almost certainly do not have one everywhere you have a video-call-capable display. And the display is probably dramatically smaller, so you still need a separate display if you want to show anything useful. For very nearly everyone, that's just "a video call with extra baggage"." - Groxx
- Alternative Solutions: "Fundamentally it’s just easier to send an email or call. Zoom was what people wanted." - BriggyDwiggs42
- Logistical Challenges: "Firstly: By the time your organisation is big enough that nobody will bat an eyelid at buying a $4000 gadget, it’s big enough you’ve got several buildings with several floors. Probably some doors too. So you don’t need one robot, you need ten. And if it works really well and it’s a big hit? One per floor won’t be enough." - michaelt
- Expense and Burden: "Secondly: The expense and maintenance burden fall on the recipient of calls, but most of the benefit is to the person making the call. I benefit as the caller, as I can trundle over to someone's desk and interrupt them - but the benefit to them as the recipient is much more indirect." - michaelt
- Shift in Work Environment: "Pre-pandemic, a lot of video call stuff was pretty unreliable, making the expense of a robot a risky matter. Post-pandemic, far fewer people are in a physical office - it's not like there are important in-office meetings that only have a single remote attendee." - michaelt
- Failed Prediction: "I've no idea. I just want to mourn the utter failure of my 2001 prediction that telepresence would displace business air travel." - alan-crowe
Robotics and Household Tasks: Dishwashers and Beyond
The discussion shifted towards the practical applications of robotics in household chores, specifically mentioning dishwashers and the broader desire for automating housework.
- Dishwasher Efficiency Debate: A debate ensued about the necessity of pre-washing dishes before loading them into a dishwasher.
- Minimal Pre-Washing Advocate: "Father here with a family of 4. our dishwasher runs multiple times per day and we never hand wash before, and I can tell you that the dishes tend to be very dirty before they go in. They always come out sparkling clean." - pflenker
- Desire for Full Automation: "I guess I want the robot to do all the work -- loading and unloading does take a good chunk of time everyday. Same thing with loading / unloading washing machines, and folding clothes. Just good ol' housework that should be automatable. I was wondering whether anyone has seriously tried - and what the sota is." - smath
- Existing Solutions and Goalpost Shifting: "Best known approach for getting robots to do dishes is commonly called a dishwasher and is widespread." - margalabargala. This comment sparked a mini-debate about whether the dishwasher qualifies as a robot and how the definition of "robot" changes over time/contexts.