[jameshart]

Robot lawnmowers are mostly over $1000 already and they only do one thing. Heck, a lot of lawnmowers are over $1000.

You can pay over $500 for an automatic cat litter box. Robot vacuums can be cheap but run to $600 or so. Household appliances is a robust sector where people have a proven track record of spending a lot of money.

[garbageman]

Automatic litter box is a great example. We've had one for ~7 years and it's still going strong. High initial cost that pays back every day over the course of what will likely be a decade+ of usage. Absolutely worth every penny if you look to the horizon. I imagine the robot mowers and robot house maids will fall under the same type of payback but with even higher upfront costs - perhaps this will turn into yet another subscription scheme.

[xnx]

> We've had one for ~7 years and it's still going strong

Interested. Which one?

[entropic]

Not OP, but I have a litter robot 3 that is still going strong after 10 years, and a litter robot 4 that is around four years old. The only problem I've run into is occasionally the pinch sensor will get bits of litter stuck in it and I have to take the globe off and tap/push on the sensor housing, then it will allow cycling again.

Great machines!

https://www.litter-robot.com/

[lp0_on_fire]

Do you use it with multiple cats? I know they advertise it that way but I'm curious where the rubber meets the pavement.

[entropic]

Yeah, I've always had two or three cats using them, they like to use them as an opportunity to hide and pounce on one another as one exits the litter robot globe, inside the globe they have a pretty limited field of view.

[jvidalv]

Also interested.

[f6v]

Yeah, I heard all it does is smear shit all over itself. Any good brands?

[codegeek]

It is all about the ROI. A lawn cut from a professional can cost anywhere from $25-$100 on an average (per cut). So with a $1000 lawn mower, you will get the return back in 10-40 cuts at most. That is less than 1-2 seasons. Sure, there will be some maintenance cost over the years but if you look at a 5-10 year period, it is totally worth doing your own. Even with the $1000 price tag. Of course, you cannot count the labor time.

[vladgur]

There is more to yard work than mowing the lawn unfortunately. Trimming. Fertilizing Etc etc

If I can get a robot replace a gardener who I pay $170/mo for 2 visits per month, i probably would. But I suspect that would kill lawn

[codegeek]

Agreed. That's one thing I realized I cannot do myself. I bought an expensive Mower Rider and tried it myself only realizing how much work it is for do trimming, blow, cleanup, weeding etc other than just mowing. Granted, I have a large property. I hired back a landscaper and focus my time on other things :)

[memonkey]

For all of these things, then what's the point of having a humanoid robot then? The last thing is a folding laundry bot that I would happily also pay $1000 for.

[mrexroad]

> folding laundry robot

This is my dream for a house chore robot. If I could dump hampers of clothes into a receptacle and get stacks of folded clothes out, I’d happily pay $1k. Household of 5; my kids each produce 3-4 sets of clothes a day (sleep, school, sports, after school). I run wash in AM so dryer finishes before 3pm (pg&e ToU) and then I’m focused on other things for rest of day. More often than not, I get to bed to find a near full hamper of clothes dumped where I sleep and then have to sort/fold/deliver. Bonus points if robot can sort different items to different stacks/bundles.

I don’t need AI/robotics to save me time from having to think, research, or code… I need AI/robotics to save me time so I can think, research, or code.

[imtringued]

A foldimate costs a fraction of your $1k.

[76SlashDolphin]

And is vapourware. They went bankrupt in 2021 after failing to make it work and the domain is run by scammers.

[lowbloodsugar]

My wife hates having other people in our house and we both hate cleaning. If it worked, we’d drop $5k no problem. It’ll be $5k and a $50/mo sub? Sold!

[traes]

I have personally never met someone with a personal robotic lawnmower, and I suspect that if you have you live in a bubble that is severely biasing your view of the average American.

[alnwlsn]

My cousin has one. But he also lives on 5 acres, which is also not average either.

Apparently prices on them have gone way up. The one he has now would cost something like $6K today.

[jameshart]

A product doesn’t need to appeal to or reach the average American to be a viable product.

[traes]

Perhaps not, but I interpreted it as an intended counterexample to the GP's claim

> You'd have a hard time convincing most American families to purchase anything with a >$1000 price tag...

Which I am skeptical of.