Ask HN: What’s is the most practical, non toy, programmable robot for under 10k? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What’s is the most practical, non toy, programmable robot for under 10k?

48 pointstluyben218 comments

Are there any? Something that can be made to do practical things. Can be DIY.

If you want an arm there’s these at a few price points: https://www.ufactory.cc/

I have an xarm, and if you’re ever in Seattle and want to check it out let me know.

I live nearby and I would dearly love to see it. Contact info in profile.

Are you using it for cooking (seeing your nick); any videos online?

What kind of stuff are you wanting to do? Special purpose robots are extremely common (and the ones more advanced than cheap 3D printers and CNC routers out of your price range unless you want to build it from scratch), general purpose are mostly out of your price range.

What would be an example of a general purpose? And what price is associated with those?m

Edit; I see that spot and atlas from Boston dynamics are 75k$ around; that is the direction you are thinking of?

I'm not sure whether it's quite in that category yet - or whether this quote demonstrates that it's an elaborate joke/troll related to Silicon Valley (the TV series), but progress on Comma Body[1] may be worth following.

"One day we dream that 3 comma bodies will get into an openpilot car, drive to Phoenix, open a donut shop, run said donut shop, and bring the profits back once a week. The potential of AI.

But today, it balances, rolls around, and looks beautiful."

[1] - https://blog.comma.ai/commabody/

...and potentially a more comprehensive answer: RobotShop has a good list of platforms at varying price points (mostly under $5k) and in various form factors: https://www.robotshop.com/en/robot-kits.html

This is amazing! Thanks for sharing, I follow Comma and somehow didn’t notice this announcement at all.

It was a fairly random find. I was looking at their list of supported car models[1] out of curiosity, and wondered whether "comma body" was a typo. Evidently not!

[1] - https://github.com/commaai/openpilot/blob/6965e03c0a1167beec...

This is probably on the lower end for budget and capabilities but still might be interesting.

https://living.ai/emo/

I love this question by the way. Hope someone knows of something good.

I was going to ask if it's real or just CGI and a waiting list, but apparently it's real https://living.ai/delivery-process/

What do you think about it? Is it worth the price?

Unfortunately I don't know all that much about it. I couldn't even remember the name, had to google "desktop robot toy". Seems cool though.

What an excellent question. I'm very much interested in the answer as well.

On a similar note, I read on Twitter a robotics expert talking the other day about how we can probably get robots that can recognize and pick up basic objects, moving them from one location to the next.

One great application of this would be a robot that picks up toys and socks that children leave behind into a chest or something of the sort.

I think lots of parents would enjoy that.

I participate in the Vex Robotics Competition and have experience with the Vex V5 system. With $10k you can buy a Competition Kit [1] and many many parts.

With a kit like this and some 3d printing skills, the possibilities are endless, you can build lifts, intake and shoot balls and frisbees, pick up and pile boxes (albeit not super heavy stuff). You can use sensors to detect object colors and stuff.

You can use C++ code [2] to interact with the sensors and run basically any algorithm for autonomous use.

The biggest drawback is probably the lack of a raw camera and ability to run ML on the brain with a 'real computer'. However, it should be possible to add a Raspberry Pi and have it talk to the V5 Brain through a USB Serial connection.

[1] https://www.vexrobotics.com/v5-competition-super-kit.html [2] https://pros.cs.purdue.edu/

Also see https://www.vexforum.com/t/anyone-else-using-vex-for-non-com... or https://www.vexforum.com/t/vex-robotics-xylophone-player-pro.... They blur the line between toys and equipment that can do practical tasks but is made for learning.

A farm bot? https://farm.bot

Around $1.5-6k

up to 10k you could buy: 1. a 3d printer 2. a drone 3. a cnc machine & laser cutting machine 4. a 6 DOF toy/hobbyist robotic arm

and you would probably have some spare to invest.

all practical things question is what kind of things you looking for.

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