
Show HN: I'm building a robot that cuts hair, starting with beard trims [video] - dopeboy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CmHuTKToag&feature=youtu.be
======
hesk
This reminds me of the following joke:

A sales representative is advertising his company's invention, a shaving
machine. "You put your head in a box", he says, "and two razor sharp knives
swoosh down and cut your beard."

"Don't people have different head shapes?", an audience member interjects.

"Only for the first time."

~~~
holler
lol that was good

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cbames89
Interesting project! I've thought about this one before, mostly due to Jimmy
Neutron.

What arm are you using? Also what depth sensor?

A few suggestions:

It would appear that you're taking a pretty common approach to robot
manipulation, sense, plan, "close your eyes" and then act. This works for
stationary objects when you have high accuracy control and high accuracy
sensing. Unless you're envisioning strapping people's heads down, your target
is going to move. This will necessitate a closed-loop approach.

A closed-loop approach here would benefit from force control at the end
effector. ATI[1] is a good source for 6-axis load cells and they've recently
come out with smaller form factor load cells.

A second useful sensor would be a Time-of-Flight depth sensor. The old PMD
Camboard Nano used to get up to 90 FPS and a close effective range (if I
recall correctly ~3-4"). The time of flight sensors can be a bit noisy, but
I've written up some of the smoothing approaches I've taken [2].

Good luck!

[1] [https://www.ati-ia.com/](https://www.ati-ia.com/)

[2] [http://www.cbames.com/publications](http://www.cbames.com/publications)

~~~
dopeboy
Dexter by Haddington Dynamics for the arm. Pico Flexx for the depth sensor.

Deeply appreciative of your feedback. Long term, we want to install a force
control sensor. The arm actually has a mode that detects negative torque so we
may tap into that.

Might reach out to you separately for some follow ups - thanks again for the
guidance here.

~~~
cbames89
I've actually built a Dexter with the guys from HD. One of the beauties of
that arm is its ability to force sensing inherently, at least the version I
have. I doubt you'd need additional force sensing capabilities on top of what
you get from Dexter.

However, I suspect you're near the arm's payload limit with the clipper setup.
Feel free to reach out. I get to the Bay Area every semester or so.

------
dopeboy
Hey everyone, founder of Buzz Robotics here.

I'm a guy and getting a haircut is a pain. It takes too much time (appointment
+ waiting time + sitting time). It involves traveling to the one barber that
knows our style. And it is expensive (~$65, on average, in SF).

We envision a future where you sit down in a kiosk, swipe your card, and a
robot performs a fast, clean, consistent, and most importantly, _SAFE_ haircut
on you. All for half the usual cost. And your cut is saved in the cloud for
use at any Buzz Robotics kiosk in the world.

For the engineers in the crowd, that's a 6 degree of freedom robotic arm with
a Wahl trimmer fitted at the end. The arm is provided by Haddington Dynamics
([http://hdrobotic.com/](http://hdrobotic.com/)). SDK is plain old JavaScript.
The point cloud is supplied by a Pico Flexx camera using their C++ SDK.

If the business case interests you, here's a pitch I gave at last week's
OnDeck fellowship demo day:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td7L3qREzqA&feature=youtu.be](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td7L3qREzqA&feature=youtu.be)

Lastly, if this sounds interesting to you, reach out (arithmetic@gmail.com).
Happy to grab coffee too if you're in the bay area.

~~~
burkaman
Do haircuts really cost $65 in San Fransisco? That seems like a number
somebody would make up to parody the high cost of living. ("$65 haircuts! $10
for a loaf of bread! $25 to see a movie!")

~~~
52-6F-62
Shopping at the right places in Toronto and that's about right.

\- $65 Haircut? Pretty easy, even for a simple men's cut. (I've paid as low as
$8 with...varying results)

\- $10 loaf of bread? Look no further than
[https://brodflour.com/#menu](https://brodflour.com/#menu)

\- $25 Movie? $11-12 for a base ticket and easily $15 for a pop and popcorn.
Add a beer to that? +$8 And that's taking it light while still buying your
concessions there.

~~~
mkw5053
An adult ticket to see Once Upon a Time in Hollywood tonight at 9:30 at the
AMC Metreon in SF costs $21.99 ($24.19 with fees)

~~~
52-6F-62
And I thought our Cineplex chain was expensive. For That price in CAD you can
see the IMAX version.

~~~
curioussavage
that is the imax price. I just went there two weeks ago.

------
maximente
i'll sound like a luddite here, but i hope this never really gets to the point
of replacing barbers and especially barber shops.

barber shops are pretty unique places in that people are really chatty, and it
doesn't really matter if you're e.g. a banker or fast food worker, you're
still a part of the little community. it's cool to connect with people from
all statuses and people tend to be really open, loose, good energy, plus you
see the same characters all the time, so it's a mini community.

yeah, it's pretty expensive but i personally enjoy that routine/non automated
part of my life.

~~~
rubicon33
Are you describing what you see in movies, or the reality for you?

I pop into a supercuts and I'm out in less than 15 minutes. Minimal chatting.

~~~
dfsegoat
He is describing an "old school" barber shop experience where the proprietors
are actual barbers.

Not like supercuts, Floyd's, etc. Those aren't actual barbers - they are
cosmetologists [1].

More info on the barbershop experience / history here:
[https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/rediscovering-the-
ba...](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/rediscovering-the-barbershop/)

1 - [https://www.barbercosmo.ca.gov/](https://www.barbercosmo.ca.gov/)

~~~
aphextim
We have a small barber shop here. They have beer on tap, a few dogs running
around that are friendly and help distract kids.

Amazing service, always friendly fast cuts/shaves. Another nice aspect is you
could be sitting in there with a lawyer, police officer, doctor, custodian and
no one cares about your job/social status. The guys just wanna unwind after a
long day of work, drink a few beers and talk about the latest in
hunting/fishing/camping.

------
rrauenza
This reminded me of a less serious proposal by Simone Giertz -- her Haircut
Drone video:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQSh1MWIdVU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQSh1MWIdVU)

OP's pitch is also on the youtube channel:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td7L3qREzqA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td7L3qREzqA)

------
weisser
Curious how many men care about the relationship with their barber enough for
this to not take off if done well.

There’s likely a sizable population that cares more about convenience, cost,
and predictability of outcome.

Premium barbershops currently compete on experiences vs outcomes: giving you a
glass of whiskey, providing great ambiance, etc. If robots become the default
for basic haircuts it will make premium barbershops seems all the more
luxurious because you have an actual person (an artist!) cutting your hair.
Perhaps they'll be able to raise their prices even more.

1st Disclosure: I'm one of the co-founders of On Deck and the OP is in the On
Deck Fellowship.

2nd Disclosure: I thought this idea was completely crazy when Manish first
brought in that absurd mannequin with the replaceable beards. Now, the more I
think about what he's building and the opportunity space the more I love it.

~~~
codingdave
I am introverted enough that I despise going to a barber to get my beard
trimmed (and it shows), and would gladly let a robot do it, if it did a good
job. There is certainly a market for this.

That being said, when the first thing in the video was the robot jamming the
clippers hard into the mannequin's jaw, I realized that while the idea is
interesting, it not is not quite ready for prime time.

------
jszymborski
First and foremost, you get a standing ovation from me for doing the sort of
mad science that'll always be worth doing and gets me excited about the world.

One concern I have is, that razor really seems to push that dummy's head back
quite a bit, and I'd imagine it'd be rather uncomfortable to have that wacking
you. Is there any way to avoid that? Is it maybe not as painful as it looks?

~~~
dopeboy
Great observation - the force sensing isn't there yet. It should be smooth
contact all throughout. Definitely working on it.

------
b_tterc_p
Feels like the kind of thing that would slit your throat if you had a poorly
place tattoo. But I’m betting it can be made to work well though. I would feel
sad however. Most great barbers are small business owners. Barbers are perhaps
the one service for which I enjoy tipping culture. I don’t talk much during
cuts but I enjoy the process quite a bit.

~~~
magduf
>Feels like the kind of thing that would slit your throat if you had a poorly
place tattoo.

Sounds like a good reason not to have a tattoo... among many other reasons.
Are you trying to look like a criminal?

Besides, from the description it sounds like it has a standard hair clipper on
it. Those don't have exposed blades, so it should be pretty safe.

~~~
JeremyBanks
dang

------
gargarplex
[https://pbfcomics.com/comics/automatic-
business/](https://pbfcomics.com/comics/automatic-business/)

~~~
napolux
I came here to post this. :)

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puranjay
Not to be a luddite, but I'm not putting my face anywhere near a robot armed
with a blade

~~~
PhantomGremlin
I agree. I upvoted this submission because, IMO, it's comically bad. It will
be a long before a contraption like this is ready for prime time.

The video is only a minute long, worth watching for the yucks.

It's cringe-worthy the way the the razor whacks into the dummy's head. The
concern is brushed off with "the force sensing isn't there yet". Yeah, just a
small matter of hardware and programming. And, as someone else pointed out,
there's the small matter of the hand around the dummy's neck.

Comedy gold.

------
seapunk
Congrats for the technical challenge!

Fortunately, getting a haircut is not so expensive everywhere. To be honest
with you what you try to accomplish is a repeated topic of discussion in my
barber shop and for the moment they seem happy not to see this kind of tech
working.

Where I live people go the barber shop to feel somebody is taking care of them
and have a nice chat in addition to having a nice haircut.

I think it's a business that tries to overcome the loneliness but I think you
can compete with this if Buzz Robotics brings a kind of human touch, maybe you
could make people appreciate robots after all.

~~~
magduf
>what you try to accomplish is a repeated topic of discussion in my barber
shop and for the moment they seem happy not to see this kind of tech working.

Of course, just like truck drivers don't want to see self-driving trucks. That
doesn't mean it's a bad idea at all, just that people don't want their job
automated away. As someone who hates barbershops, I'll take a robotic barber
any day.

>Where I live people go the barber shop to feel somebody is taking care of
them and have a nice chat in addition to having a nice haircut.

If that's what they want, then they can keep going to the barbershop for that
experience, and keep it in business. No one's going to force them to use the
robot.

>but I think you can compete with this if Buzz Robotics brings a kind of human
touch

The whole point of something like this is to _eliminate_ the human touch! It's
to make getting a haircut a quick, inexpensive, and automated experience, just
like buying a drink from a vending machine instead of going to a shop and
having it hand-made for you while you sit and chat with someone. It's entirely
possible to make coffee with an automatic machine, but Starbucks doesn't seem
to be hurting.

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leetbulb
Can I bring my own g-code? Maybe share it with others? :)

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checktheorder
Now there's a subject line that I'm very happy to see _didn 't_ link to a
Simone Giertz video.

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huhtenberg
Yes! Finally a chance to plug my favorite scene from an old kid's musical :)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lgluqEiQow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lgluqEiQow)

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meteor333
I'd love this to get to a stage of getting me consistent haircut. I like
barbers but i have horrible time getting consistent haircuts. If I can rely on
this robot, I'd switch instantly.

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f00bar23
Actual footage:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfDdbrF2bec&t=0m47s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfDdbrF2bec&t=0m47s)

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highhedgehog
I always wondered if this could be reality

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chovy
I paid $30 for a beard trim the other day.

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whalesalad
That is pure nightmare fuel.

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your-nanny
will the world be better off replacing barbers and stylists with machines?

