

The Boss Is Robotic, and Rolling Up Behind You - davi
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/science/05robots.html?hp=&pagewanted=all

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rmason
Am I the only one who thinks this product could be a game changer? Maybe the
tipping point that makes employers embrace hiring telecommuters?

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mgrouchy
I have to say, its pretty incredible, but I imagine its kind of expensive.
Might be able to convince the boss you could offset the cost with the fact
your not taking up a seat in the office. Depends.

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mediaman
As these develop, there are huge opportunities for improving transnational
trade. For example, I am interested in using this to monitor a Chinese
manufacturing facility for QA of product before containers are shipped
stateside. That reduces huge amounts of money and opportunity cost spent on
cross-Pacific travel.

~~~
felipe
QA in Chinese manufacturing is much more complicated than that. Look at this
example that I just got from an excellent blog I normally follow:

[http://silkroadintl.net/blog/2010/09/01/%e2%80%9cdoing-
busin...](http://silkroadintl.net/blog/2010/09/01/%e2%80%9cdoing-business-in-
china-you-always-play-the-games-or-they-will-eat-your-weakness-%e2%80%9d/)

Note the amount of local knowledge required to make things happen. One cannot
acquire that much knowledge with a webcam attached to a machine.

My point it that it's not just a matter of being physically somewhere, but
also the context knowledge that matters.

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mediaman
The article you linked was not about QA, it was about contract negotiations
for one-off projects.

I source thousands of tons of material from Chinese factories, and the QA
challenge is different. My option is to station Chinese employees (who are
trustworthy) at multiple factories overseas to verify product quantities and
quality prior to sailing the can. Or I could have my Chinese-American staff in
the US office monitor shipments via remote robotics.

Certainly telepresence does not replace international trips to build and
maintain the relationship, but it can greatly assist in monitoring QA
processes after the initial setup has been completed.

~~~
felipe
So how that would be different from someone local holding a webcam? (or a cell
phone)

My point is that maybe there is an opportunity for such solution today.
Instead of an expensive robot, one could hire a trusted person to hold a
camera, so someone else could do the inspection remotely.

Would that be useful for your job?

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San
AnyBots founder and CEO Trevor Blackwell (quoted in the third section of the
article) is also one of the Y Combinator co-founders, and I believe both
companies are in the same office building.

RiderOfGiraffes lists some relevant HN items here:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1562602>

