Two ancillary considerations: First, minor: no tipping! Second, more substantial: Reduced exposure to robberies and physical attacks on deliveristas; however, vandalism or theft from robots?
Look at me, wondering if WWIII is about to start with Russia or China. I lost sight of the big picture, in which robots deliver muffins to lazy office workers. How do I sign up for a paid membership?
We saw the Starship robots when we lived in Mountain View, CA. I remember watching one robot—with a hot coffee order inside—lurch back and forth unsteadily as it made its way down the sidewalk. Back then in 2020, the robots still had trouble crossing at intersections, both at four-way stops and at stop lights, often waiting several light cycles before attempting to cross—even when no cars were present.
Also, I’m sure they’ve gotten better since then, but I’ll never forget the time one of them nearly ran over our toddler on the sidewalk.
My daughter is a student at GMU and we are local. One day, I did have to call Student Services to report a rogue Starship bot. It was on the sidewalk next to Braddock Road, the main four lane highway that borders the south side of campus. I thought to myself, "that little guy isn't supposed to be out here." Lol
I really enjoy your observations about the intersection of new technology and figuring out the human aspect of the operations to make the economics work out. Commercialization is where MBAs and engineers have a lot to learn from and share with each other (the intersection of ownership and intellectual property become really interesting here, too!).
I'm really appreciating your willingness to record in text/print something so _seemingly_ mundane and do it in a disciplined manner (e.g. at least two different examples of robot company) as well. It makes me appreciate that I subscribed!
they’re still trying to build robots that can reliably get to their destination without killing anyone.
Got a good chuckle out of that one!
Because Chess computers beat humans, Go computers are close behind. Discuss.
If you don’t understand the mechanics, the algorithms, the limitations, the challenge, it can seem like one follows another inevitably.
Chess computers used brute force. Go required a completely different approach, neural networks and reinforcement learning.
Perhaps delivering pizzas in metro DC is a completely different challenge from other "similar" problems. I don’t know.
Two ancillary considerations: First, minor: no tipping! Second, more substantial: Reduced exposure to robberies and physical attacks on deliveristas; however, vandalism or theft from robots?
Look at me, wondering if WWIII is about to start with Russia or China. I lost sight of the big picture, in which robots deliver muffins to lazy office workers. How do I sign up for a paid membership?
We saw the Starship robots when we lived in Mountain View, CA. I remember watching one robot—with a hot coffee order inside—lurch back and forth unsteadily as it made its way down the sidewalk. Back then in 2020, the robots still had trouble crossing at intersections, both at four-way stops and at stop lights, often waiting several light cycles before attempting to cross—even when no cars were present.
Also, I’m sure they’ve gotten better since then, but I’ll never forget the time one of them nearly ran over our toddler on the sidewalk.
My daughter is a student at GMU and we are local. One day, I did have to call Student Services to report a rogue Starship bot. It was on the sidewalk next to Braddock Road, the main four lane highway that borders the south side of campus. I thought to myself, "that little guy isn't supposed to be out here." Lol
Howard Univ. is an African-American school, and George Mason is not. This article is clearly an indication that the robots are racists. /s
I really enjoy your observations about the intersection of new technology and figuring out the human aspect of the operations to make the economics work out. Commercialization is where MBAs and engineers have a lot to learn from and share with each other (the intersection of ownership and intellectual property become really interesting here, too!).
I'm really appreciating your willingness to record in text/print something so _seemingly_ mundane and do it in a disciplined manner (e.g. at least two different examples of robot company) as well. It makes me appreciate that I subscribed!