Boston Dynamics CEO Talks Profitability and the Company's Next Robots (venturebeat.com) 24
An anonymous reader quotes a report from VentureBeat, written by Emil Protalinski: Founded in 1992, Boston Dynamics is arguably the best-known robot company around, in part because its demonstration videos tend to go viral. Now it is attempting to transform from an R&D company to a robotics business, with an eye on profitability for the first time. When we interviewed Boston Dynamics founder and former CEO Marc Raibert in November 2019, we discussed the company's customers, potential applications, AI, simulation, and those viral videos. But it turns out Raibert was transitioning out of the CEO role at the time -- current CEO Robert Playter told us in an interview this month that he took the helm in November. We sat down to discuss Playter's first year as CEO; profitability; Spot, Pick, Handle, and Atlas; and the company's broader roadmap, including which robots are next.
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In June, Boston Dynamics started selling its quadruped robot Spot in the U.S. for $74,500. Last week, the company expanded Spot sales to Canada, the EU, and the U.K. at the same price point. Playter says Boston Dynamics has sold or leased about 250 robots to date and business is accelerating. [...] Compared to big manufacturing robotic companies, 250 robots is not a lot. But Playter points out it's a big achievement "for a novel robot like Spot." Other robotic startups would love to get that sort of market validation. "We're penetrating, we're establishing a market, and people are starting to see value. We're adapting Spot to be a solution for some of the industries we're targeting," Playter said.
Spot's success means the company is beating its own internal targets. "We are meeting -- actually exceeding -- some of our sales goals for Spot," Playter said. "We had ambitious goals this year, but we met our Q1 goal. We're meeting our Q2 goal. We have ambitious Q3 and Q4 goals. I think we're probably going to meet or exceed them this year. To become profitable, these products do have to become successful. They have to scale. But right now, I think we're beating plan." The company now has a roadmap to profitability. "I think we'll be profitable in about two and a half years," Playter said. "2023-2024 is when I'm projecting that we are cash positive." To hit that milestone, Boston Dynamics is simultaneously developing robots for logistics (think production, packaging, inventory, transportation, and warehousing)...
[...]
In June, Boston Dynamics started selling its quadruped robot Spot in the U.S. for $74,500. Last week, the company expanded Spot sales to Canada, the EU, and the U.K. at the same price point. Playter says Boston Dynamics has sold or leased about 250 robots to date and business is accelerating. [...] Compared to big manufacturing robotic companies, 250 robots is not a lot. But Playter points out it's a big achievement "for a novel robot like Spot." Other robotic startups would love to get that sort of market validation. "We're penetrating, we're establishing a market, and people are starting to see value. We're adapting Spot to be a solution for some of the industries we're targeting," Playter said.
Spot's success means the company is beating its own internal targets. "We are meeting -- actually exceeding -- some of our sales goals for Spot," Playter said. "We had ambitious goals this year, but we met our Q1 goal. We're meeting our Q2 goal. We have ambitious Q3 and Q4 goals. I think we're probably going to meet or exceed them this year. To become profitable, these products do have to become successful. They have to scale. But right now, I think we're beating plan." The company now has a roadmap to profitability. "I think we'll be profitable in about two and a half years," Playter said. "2023-2024 is when I'm projecting that we are cash positive." To hit that milestone, Boston Dynamics is simultaneously developing robots for logistics (think production, packaging, inventory, transportation, and warehousing)...
Maybe build assistive robots for the disabled? (Score:2)
You know what I wish Boston Dynamics would do? Build a bot that can carry an average adult (say 200 or 250 pound limit) in a chair on its back. Market it as a wheelchair that can literally go anywhere.
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You know what I wish Boston Dynamics would do? Build a bot that can carry an average adult (say 200 or 250 pound limit) in a chair on its back. Market it as a wheelchair that can literally go anywhere.
For a moment I was confused when you said an average adult, followed by a 200 - 250 pound figure. Then I realized you mean an average adult in America.
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You know what I wish Boston Dynamics would do? Build a bot that can carry an average adult (say 200 or 250 pound limit) in a chair on its back. Market it as a wheelchair that can literally go anywhere.
For a moment I was confused when you said an average adult, followed by a 200 - 250 pound figure. Then I realized you mean an average adult in America.
Heh. I didn't mean to imply that 250 pounds is average. What I meant was "strong enough to handle at least the 90% case," which is to say anyone within a couple of standard deviations of the mean. That said, holy crap. In 2016, the U.S. mean weight for men was 197.1 pounds, and the median was 189.4. That means half of all American men weighed more than that. 8-\
Re: (Score:2)
Not a whole lot. Basically:
Maybe a few others?
Re: Maybe build assistive robots for the disabled? (Score:2)
Places humans canâ(TM)t go. For example, SpaceX is using theirs to go and inspect rockets that have had some kind of non-catastrophic anomaly. There might be methane leaking? Cool, send spot, not humans.
I bet thereâs a bunch of industries that could be run more efficiently if they could more quickly verify that equipment is in a safe state, or have ways to put things into a safe state without risking a human.
I think they are crazy going so high end (Score:1)
They need to go farther (Score:1)
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Really? You'd want sex with this?
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Other companies are working on that, building up from inflatable dolls. That's probably a better approach than starting from the base of a metal body. After all, they're already profitable with the products they have...they just need to improve faster than the competition.
Re:They need to go deeper* (Score:2)
* Fixed that for you.
Working with our customers... (Score:2)
Maybe not. Robots are new. Real new. And complex. Real complex. There are only so many people who can work on them. And if you chain them to working support contracts, you may limit your growth.
Boston Dynamics has always been an R and D company with a huge sugar daddy in the form of the DoD. I would be very impressed if they transformed into a customer-facing business, even just a little.
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clearly - relieve overworked Amazon workforce (Score:2)
This is not for you and me. Not a 'Synth' (see:'Humans')...yet. But possibly a X company shipping warehouse workhorse. Albeit it's not about what it can do for a short moment but more about how reliable it is in a long term. And observing my robotic vacuum I am still not clear if the time gain is there...(perhaps I should stop watching it, eh ?)
Now...if this thing is $500k and will break every other Friday...than Humans are cheaper still...(see China).
Re: clearly - relieve overworked Amazon workforce (Score:2)
Warehouse workers cost $900 per 60 hours in the US, that's 12k/week. If the tech + support costs 4k/week (100k / year with high overhead), 8k/week has it paying for itself pretty quick, and raising the quality of life for employees that amazon still hires.
It's not there yet obviously, but breaking down every other week doesn't s
Re: clearly - relieve overworked Amazon workforc (Score:2)
Wrap it up (Score:2)
Wrap the robots in some silicon and make sexbots already!
Remember them beating their robots w/baseball bats (Score:1)
Still waiting for the repercussions from when they while laughing were proudly beating their robots with baseball bats. Abuse. Assault.
Re: (Score:2)
I laughed after watching Spot slip on a banana peel. Then I felt sort of bad, even though I knew it was just a robot. I'm sure we'll all get our just desserts as smarter AIs start watching YouTube and understanding what's happening.
Best known robot company? (Score:3)
Come on, compared to the likes of Fanuc, Kuka or even Festo Boston Dynamics is, well, completely unknown in the places where profits are made.
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We're interested in Boston Dynamics because a one armed FANUC robot isn't going to hunt us down anytime soon.
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And I am interested in industrial robots that actually do something useful and have been doing so for decades.
Mimetic polyalloy (Score:2)
Not concerned until they start working with mimetic polyalloy.