Robotics startup wants to disrupt walking with AI roller skates Walking – what a drag. How are you supposed to keep on the trillionaire crypto mogul grindset when you have to do something as mundane as placing one foot in front of the other to get to your next high-flying presentation? Well, here comes Shift Robotics to revolutionize the process of movement humanity has relied on for at …
Brief: not in Canada.
Longer: currently slippery slushy snow and grit on sidewalks, deeper slushy snow on side streets to cross. Even if they survived, they would end up so messy I wouldn't want to carry them inside.
Uneven and cracked sidewalks - don't pay attention and end up faceplanting.
I know what you mean about the state of most pavements(right-pondian)/sidewalks(left-pondian)! I wouldn't want to be travelling quickly with those titchy wheels.
What you want are the Wheels of Doom version! They'll ride over most of the bumps and potholes that you'll run across, but will probably go into dalek mode when presented with a set of stairs!
I saw a news story on them that said (and demonstrated) they didn't have a problem with cracks in the sidewalk, and were designed by guys living in a US rust belt city that has some pretty bad sidewalks (maybe Detroit or Pittsburgh?)
Yeah snow would be a problem though, but snow means cold and you are probably not going on long walks when it is cold out if you can afford $1200 electric rollerskates.
"we automatically regulate your speed downhill" -- Did he mean "we", or did he mean "the AI".
I have rollerblades, and I might (possibly) consider a pair of well-designed _dumb_ skates that go over street shoes. But the AI part? Just say no.
Also, the photo carefully omits to show whether the test subject is wearing a helmet....
Indeed. On a 14 mile training run, may years ago, I was complimenting myself on how smoothly I was running when the tip of my left shoe caught the ground, I staggered onto my right foot, but could not recover and did a perfect cartoon splat on the perfectly flat, even, completely unobstructed newly laid tarmac pavement. How embarrassing, but I did stop in about 2m from a literally running start.
I then made the mistake when I got home of putting neat tincture of iodine onto the wound on my left hand. You only know how painful that is when it is too late to rinse it off.
Moral of the story: 'Pride goeth before a Fall'.
It strikes me that these 'roller-skates' remove the exercise form walking, so how will I get my 10,000 steps per day? I'll just have to install a treadmill at home, more expense, more electricity usage, or, I could just go for a walk ...
A lot cheaper to just wear bog standard skates, as will get decent speeds when skating properly rather than walking (& its more fun).
And if the commute terrain is not smooth enough for much skating then what's the point of using the AI skates anyway?
You can do stairs OK after a bit of practice (ideally skates with toe stops & use those, otherwise do "duck walk" action) - though practice first on stairs with handrails until you get proficient!
Its not difficult (I learned as an adult, never had skates as a kid) - our child got some skates as a gift & I drew the short straw of also having some & accompanying them / helping them while we both got to grips with skating (I did make sure I got some decent skating practice in first before ever taking her out skating so I was competent enough to help her if needed)
Not wanting to defend the use of AI in anything, but I think you've misunderstood....
These will let you go the speed of skating with the effort of walking, is the idea. So you can 'walk' fast and not get sweaty.
The interesting matter of stopping, which is nigh on impossible on rollerblades without ruining them quickly, intrigues me... how do they know when I want to stop? I'm assuming they've figured that out.
It would be obvious when someone is walking up or down stairs, if the AI is programmed properly it would lock the wheels when it detects that. I wouldn't want to be an early adopter testing that AI's programming at the top of an NYC subway stop's stairway, however!
I've often wondered why more people don't use roller skates in everyday life. OK, in the UK you might need 'litter ploughs' on the front to carve through the abandoned junk food detritus, but think of the fun you could have slaloming around the dog poop at high speed.
Adding AI and USB for an extra thousand bucks suggests this guy will eventually be working at his spiritual home: Apple.
So how long does this ML take to train on a new user's gait? Do you spend the first 100 hours wondering if, this time, your left foot goes forwards whilst the right one puts on full braking or, like yesterday, it will be a luxurious smooth ride - backwards?
Remember, the major problem with seven league boots was the groin strain as one foot suddenly shoots out 38 kilometres past the other.
Kickstarter... It's like Amazon Prime but with two year delivery. That's if you ever get anything at all.
Tha last three products I backed on Kickstarter either never shipped at all because the company ran out of money or they shipped years late with fatal bugs and then the company ran out of money, leaving me with worthless junk and no firmware updates.
Don't know why these guys are allowed to operate this way.
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