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Comment by qikInNdOutReply | Hacker News Reader

The longer i think about projects such as this, the more convinced i am that a small rail system such as it is for hollywood, and little wagons with containers would be ideal for such a house storage space. Just one motor and a linear distance index and you can turn that space into a storage on rail.

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A problem that recurs in my little storage system is precise 4 degree-of-freedom positioning in a complex environment. Locating the forklift to centimeter accuracy (X,Y, Z and theta) has been a programming challenge, as well as properly handling palletized boxes. Much fun to figure out, but it's still way more efficient to guide the forklift using cameras and remote hand-control.

I'm no expert, but perhaps reckoning from the cart‘s position is the wrong approach. When you run the thing by hand, most of what you are doing is keeping some waypoint or other centered in the camera view. Perhaps it would be easier if that's what your automation did.

People used to talk about how the brain had to solve differential equations to catch a baseball until they noticed that all a ball-catching player really does is move their body so as to keep the ball centered in their vision.

And come to think of it, that rail system could fit anywhere.. have old AC ducts? Rail Storage. High Rooms? Rail Storage behind a drop ceiling! Garagespace? But rails on a rack..

Have rubys in a mine? Goto put it on rails. Idea runaway exception thrown..

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