How to find an idea for a startup in robotics?

Intro

Having gone from plywood amateur computers to 14nm single-board computers the size of a flash drive, the computer industry gave an impetus to the powerful technological development of mankind. At the same time, we all witnessed how large-scale phenomena occur in our time, including the development of the Internet, astronautics and robotics.

Compared with the field of Internet entrepreneurship, the development of non-industrial robotics is at the very beginning of its path. It can be assumed that now among those enthusiasts who in hackspaces and their garages in the evening, after work, cut parts for robots, collect their projects and program to the detriment of sleep and rest, there are future Bill Gates, and Poll Allen, and Mark Zuckerberg, and many of those who implement the motto: "Robots stick in - happy man!".



I will not pour water and beat around the bush - this material was written not so much for Habr's daily sandbox I read, but for ordering my thoughts and for the sake of lulz comments of experienced people, because experience decides. Moreover, in such an unexplored and young industry as robotics.

Pre

What immediately comes to the mind of an ordinary person with the phrase: "And can come up with a robot?".

Admit that the picture immediately flashed in my head: an iron anthropomorphic cart with glowing eyes, a nose-light bulb and a nasal metal voice repeats in the laboratory: “I am a robot! I am a robot! I am a robot!".

The essence of the understanding of a person who is not engaged in robots is the endowment of the robot with the signs of Man Artificial. But in no way a useful Roomba robot-vacuum cleaner is like a robot, it is perceived as part of the interior, a useful “device”, rather than an iron, riveted, incomprehensible mechanism.

Why all these inflorescences are higher - I propose to take a detached look at the main issue of this article, without imposing the pattern “I will think of a robot, but it will have a head, arms, legs and luminous eyes!”.

MAIN

A successful robot is something so robotic, for which someone is willing to pay money. That is, the robot must solve some problem or need for its purchase to be profitable. Image robots also solve the problem in the attention of others, so the iron carts with eyes and ventrilodeness in a metallic voice also have the right to life.

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Below, I wrote about 6 ways to come up with an idea for a startup in robotics. Of course, it can be not only robots, but also other components of such ecosystems - “twitter for robots”, “instagrams for photos of engine oil and batteries”, etc. Joke.

1 Upgrade the finished!

Why look for a new idea, suffer and suffer? Take a ready-made, already existing solution on the market, direct your strength and energy to create an improved version of this and - voila !, a new product appeared, with an already formed sales market, unique and proven in its basis.



Example:

The above-mentioned robot vacuum Roomba. Neato also cleans carpets, but at the same time it has a laser range finder, which allows him to first build a room map and then go “smartly” rather than randomly driving around the room.

There is always room for creativity, if you have creative thinking, you can always come up with a couple of improvements for the existing and now sold robot in any area. The main work will then be to check whether the new "trinkets" are suitable for such a robot or these are the excesses that the developers may have invented, but then abandoned them.

And progress does not stand still, the robot launched into production 5 years ago did not have a super-sensor, since sensor cost fabulous money. But six months ago, in the glorious city of Shenzhen, mass production of a super sensor began, and now a slightly modified robot with it can become much smarter and even more popular than the existing model that served as the basis for your robot.

2 Back to the future!

This method is perfect for those who like to read science fiction and generally fantasize.

Sit down comfortably, relax, close your eyes and imagine that you are in the future, say, in 20 years. And around you there is a real high-tech - personal flyers fly along multi-level streets, gravity is defeated, and against the background of the sunrise one can see the inversion trail of flying up into orbit bulk carrier, in the womb of which sublimated snacks for colonizers on Mars. They have there, you know, the meteorite of the greenhouse was broken up, it’s not enough to eat it, you need to save it, until the entire stock from the local Martian Rosrezerv was eaten up.



So, imagine what robots could surround you in this room or on an imaginary street. It will be a cleaning robot, an armored box driving through the streets and flashing with an orange beacon or a quadcopter bombing a parcel from a local cafe, straight to your balcony, or maybe it’s a telepresence robot heading on the ceiling with a screen head constantly bothering the incoming video calls.



Example:

Quadcopter + book = Amazon delivery without traffic jams and long waiting for the courier.

Or a quadcopter + pizza in a bag = Domino's hot pizza delivery.

Or a small hexapod-governor who performs only two things - bringing your socks to the bed in the morning (finds them through the built-in RFID beacons by triangulation (there are two charging docks in the house, which also serve to find socks)) and carry your smartphone to " a table of contactless charging, so that in the morning you do not have to hurry to look for both.

3 Solve a well-known problem!

Trite, but you can solve some problem or what is needed. For example, a robot for transporting goods between floors, a kind of eight-legged walker with a platform on top for refrigerators, able to gently lift loads to the 12th floor and lower them from there. Irreplaceable thing when moving or for a company engaged in the delivery of household appliances. Especially in those houses where the elevator for eternal repair or its carrying capacity \ dimensions are not enough.



Example:

A guide robot for visually impaired people solves a real problem and makes life easier, unlike, say, from a robot from loneliness ala “twitter for cats” (I have nothing against cats, and even vice versa!). Such a dog the size of a dog, stuffed with sensors and a powerful iron for the operation of the vision system, would be great to help those with eye problems.

Or another variation of it - a robot guide for those who first came to another city and want to see local sights, not lingering in queues at museums, but passing along with their robot, who will pay for tickets with the money that was billed to the beginning of the tour. He can even speak in pure English in the same, yes, yes, Martian city, where the bulk carrier with dry rations flew. Russian is a local language there, nobody will be surprised.

4 Explore the scope!

Such an option is to get good at something very well, to find out the area from the inside and on the basis of this, ideas for this application will arise.

This can be especially pronounced in related areas, for example, robotics and medicine, robotics and geology, etc.



Example:

A robot in the form of a small, uh ... "submarine" to study the causes of clogged sewers.

Where a person cannot even climb through a scuba tank due to its large dimensions or hazardous fumes, such a robot plumber could research everything, release the reagent, and then swim back into its sealed box for transportation.

Or another option is a robotic agronomist who flies over a hundred hectares of wheat fields per day and takes measurements of soil indicators - humidity, pH, etc. Based on this, fine-tuning is made for irrigation canals in order not to swamp areas of the field and prevent water overspending.

A farmer or an agronomist will not even be able to compete with such a robot in terms of solving the task even on a tractor / motorcycle / bicycle / chaise.

5 More versatile communication!

Sometimes, in the most remote phrase or question from robotics, there may be a great idea for a robotic startup. Communicate more with people from other areas, while considering your communication from a point of view as if you could see some problem or need of your interlocutor and solve it. That is, simply, form one of the edges of your view as “I am an inventor, listening to a focus group”.



Example:

An acquaintance who recently built a house tells you: “Well, it was hard for me when I laid tiles in the yard, I constantly had to drag pallets with it, which greatly reduced the productivity and concentration of work!”. You immediately have an idea: "An assistant robot for dragging building materials to the place of work - tiles, tiles, mortar in containers, etc.". If the master is not distracted by minor matters, he will be able to work much more efficiently.

6 Solve your own problem!

Not always we can see the real problem that occurs in other people. And the problem is not always found - is real, and not taken from the ceiling. But the problems that confront themselves and they have to be solved - we can safely explore these problems and propose a solution for all those who can also face them and can already solve them using the results of your startup, of course, paying money for it.



Example:

I find it difficult to get up at the right time if I go to bed late. I simply do not react to the alarm clock, although it gives a loud signal three times.

My problem could be solved by a small robot that is on duty by the bed, and when the time specified in the settings comes, the robot pulls up to the foot, puts a manipulator and gives a weak discharge of current. And while playing music alarm. If it is not turned off for a minute, he again pulls up to the foot and gives an already stronger discharge of current. And so five times, and on the sixth the robot pulls up to the head and the manipulator-watering device "washes" the amateur to sleep.

Hmm, I wonder how long this robot is enough. He certainly needs a strong anti-vandal case.



Thank you all!

I wonder how you find ideas for your robotics startups?