Two men on a remote space station receive all of their equipment from Earth unassembled, and must assemble it with only vague and confusing instructions ("composed by an idiot", one says); as a result, it often fails to work properly or at all. They eagerly await the arrival of a sophisticated positronic robot that will repair existing equipment and assemble new ones.
Upon its arrival, they discover that the robot has been shipped in 500 pieces with vague, confusing assembly instructions.”
Zigurd•6h ago
Is there even one use case where a humanoid robot has proven to be the best solution? To illustrate the point I would bet money that a laundry folding machine that only folds laundry better, faster, and cheaper will be the best solution for that use case. Lawn mowing? Another robot. Floor cleaning? Done and dusted. If there is a task with enough value to automate, a specialized robot will win that market.
hollerith•6h ago
The advantage of the humanoid robot is compatibility with a built environment tailored for humans.
Zigurd•5h ago
Like sitting in the driver's seat of a non-automated car and being a chauffeur? There are one and a half billion non-automated vehicles out there. An obviously gigantic market. And yet I'm pretty sure everyone can see that a humanoid robot driving a car is a ridiculous use case.
cranberryturkey•7h ago
Someone•6h ago
“Plot summary
Two men on a remote space station receive all of their equipment from Earth unassembled, and must assemble it with only vague and confusing instructions ("composed by an idiot", one says); as a result, it often fails to work properly or at all. They eagerly await the arrival of a sophisticated positronic robot that will repair existing equipment and assemble new ones.
Upon its arrival, they discover that the robot has been shipped in 500 pieces with vague, confusing assembly instructions.”