The Robotic Courier Network Thought Experiment - page 2.

grondilu

legendary

Activity: 1288

Merit: 1080

Quote from: kiba on October 31, 2010, 11:25:47 PM

Adapt autonomous driving technologies. Google cars are already driving themselves, avoid obstacles, and such.

Then I guess it will be done soon. The car will park in front of your house, will send you a SMS with code for opening the car's door and let you retreive the package. Maybe Google is planning to do that. Could be a very lucrative business.

I still think it's far from being ready for production, though. Automated driving is still a very tough AI application. It's a bit like voice to text application : it has existed for years now, but it's still not much convincing.

kiba

legendary

Activity: 980

Merit: 1014

Quote from: grondilu on October 31, 2010, 11:05:05 PM

Small flying drones already exist. What we would need now is enough AI to allow those drones to fly from a address to another, while avoiding obstacles and such. I think it will happen, but not in this century.

Adapt autonomous driving technologies. Google cars are already driving themselves, avoid obstacles, and such.

grondilu

legendary

Activity: 1288

Merit: 1080

Quote from: kiba on October 31, 2010, 06:14:14 PM

Small robots that can deliver small packages from one location to another on air and ground. They are tracked through an encrypted interface.

Operators operate robots remotely, share code and data for further improvement of courier AI and credited through bitcoin micropayment system.

Bigger payments incentivize courier operators to pick up object and deliever it to another location where other operators can pick it up.

Obviously, something need to be figured out to prevent operators engage in robotic combat for packages, not get into traffic accidents, not get package stolen, and so on.

This will happen, imo. Sooner or later.

Protecting packages won't be an issue. If the technology exists to allow a robot to navigate through a complex urban field, then it will almost certainly have also some equipments to track/watch the package and prevent theft. Also, nobody has to know how valuable is the package, and therefore random theft won't be lucrative.

Small flying drones already exist. What we would need now is enough AI to allow those drones to fly from a address to another, while avoiding obstacles and such. I think it will happen, but not in this century.

kiba

legendary

Activity: 980

Merit: 1014

Quote from: FreeMoney on October 31, 2010, 07:03:06 PM

Quote from: kiba on October 31, 2010, 06:14:14 PM

Small robots that can deliver small packages from one location to another on air and ground. They are tracked through an encrypted interface.

Operators operate robots remotely, share code and data for further improvement of courier AI and credited through bitcoin micropayment system.

Bigger payments incentivize courier operators to pick up object and deliever it to another location where other operators can pick it up.

Obviously, something need to be figured out to prevent operators engage in robotic combat for packages, not get into traffic accidents, not get package stolen, and so on.

Would taking a deposit from a robot who wants to pickup a package be sufficient? Example: Package is worth 200BTC so you take a 300BTC deposit on pickup and pay 310BTC on confirmed delivery.

I have a hunch that "robot wars" won't be a problem. If a robot is worth a lot more than a typical package or delivery fee then a small risk of damage would stop shenanigans. Robot theft/hijacking would probably be a slightly more challenging problem. Self destructing robots?

Only operators with the proper key can control the robots.

FreeMoney

legendary

Activity: 1246

Merit: 1016

Strength in numbers

Quote from: kiba on October 31, 2010, 06:14:14 PM

Small robots that can deliver small packages from one location to another on air and ground. They are tracked through an encrypted interface.

Operators operate robots remotely, share code and data for further improvement of courier AI and credited through bitcoin micropayment system.

Bigger payments incentivize courier operators to pick up object and deliever it to another location where other operators can pick it up.

Obviously, something need to be figured out to prevent operators engage in robotic combat for packages, not get into traffic accidents, not get package stolen, and so on.

Would taking a deposit from a robot who wants to pickup a package be sufficient? Example: Package is worth 200BTC so you take a 300BTC deposit on pickup and pay 310BTC on confirmed delivery.

I have a hunch that "robot wars" won't be a problem. If a robot is worth a lot more than a typical package or delivery fee then a small risk of damage would stop shenanigans. Robot theft/hijacking would probably be a slightly more challenging problem. Self destructing robots?

ribuck

donator

Activity: 826

Merit: 1060

Imagine a botnet of these!

kiba

legendary

Activity: 980

Merit: 1014

Small robots that can deliver small packages from one location to another on air and ground. They are tracked through an encrypted interface.

Operators operate robots remotely, share code and data for further improvement of courier AI and credited through bitcoin micropayment system.

Bigger payments incentivize courier operators to pick up object and deliever it to another location where other operators can pick it up.

Obviously, something need to be figured out to prevent operators engage in robotic combat for packages, not get into traffic accidents, not get package stolen, and so on.

Topic: The Robotic Courier Network Thought Experiment - page 2. (Read 3437 times)