I don’t understand the animus. You say you only want to invest in humanoid robot firms which have positive cash flow. When told there are none, you get angry.
When told there are other robot firms with promise, you insist on bringing the conversation back to humanoid form robots, of which there are none ready to deploy.
What gives?
There is no money. There are no investable humanoid robots. There may not be for a very long while. Even when there are, it may be a category which is overhyped. You are free to believe it’s not, of course, but you are not free to demand an answer to a product category that doesn’t not exist as “investable” and then be snarky when someone (for the third time) points it out to you.
Let me explain but beware that some people will feel insulted. I got used to have more than simple minded conversations at TMF. Anyone who is thin skinned, please stop reading, likely you’ll feel insulted. It is not my intention to insult but I cant be blamed for thin skins.
I got a top notch American education at MIT and it was not in the classrooms. It was in the dorm. Freshly arrived I went to get my room. The guys at the front desk were really nice, they gave me the keys to my room and my post office box and said, “If you have any problems, just let us know.” Terrific! The room was fine, I dropped off my bag and went to see the post office box. The glass at the door had fallen off so off I went to the front desk to get some help. I got a most unexpected answer when I explained the problem, “Use your MIT ingenuity.” So I asked, “You are not gong to fix it?” The reply, “No, use your MIT ingenuity.” So I asked, “Use my MIT ingenuity?” The reply, “Yes, use your MIT ingenuity.” I just got to MIT, what ingenuity? Now what?
Perplexed I went to the post office box trying to figure out “My MIT ingenuity.” The door was fine. The key worked. The glass was fine but out of place. Examining how it might be installed it looked like two springs held it in place. I didn’t have springs but maybe a couple of paper clips might do the job. Off to the front desk, “Do you have any paper clips?” Yes. “Could I please have two?” 'Here you go!" Off to the post office box to my first MIT engineering job. It worked as expected. The lesson was fabulous.
Now in this thread I get simpleton replies,
Tesla has positive cash flow!
Tesla is developing Optiums, a humanoid robot.
Tesla is humanoid robot firm which has positive cash flow.
Oh, don’t worry about that. Now I understand! After all, when I was in college at a “small school outside Boston,” we knew all about students like you who went to the trade school down the river.
I have a thick enough skin to not be concerned when someone fails to communicate their points clearly or precisely, but then thinks that other people are being stupid for failing to understand the point that they failed to express properly. When you write:
…it is a perfectly normal interpretation of your statement that “cash flow” means “cash flow from robots,” not the cash flow in a company that has nothing to do with robots. It’s not the only construction, of course. But since you clarify that you’re looking both at cash flow and companies that can compete with Tesla in humanoid robots, not that can compete with Tesla in cash flow from activities in business segments completely unrelated to humanoid robots, it’s the most understandable one. But if you wanted people to only talk about companies that are making humanoid robots and have cash flow from activities that are wholly unrelated to the making of humanoid robots, you didn’t say it very clearly. So the fact that you got answers relating to the point you made, rather than the point you were trying but failed to make, isn’t really a reflection on us.
But it’s not your fault. You can’t help your trade school education, after all.
Albaby
all of the above is lovingly in jest, of course - and MIT is an excellent school, despite what that weather balloon did to our poor football field back in the day.
I have done both yoga and Tai Chi for many years. They are both beneficial in different ways.
Tai Chi is excellent for balance and proprioception. The point is to make sure that every motion of every hand, arm, foot and leg is perfectly aligned which seems simple until you try to do it.
Yoga is excellent for its complete, thorough stretching and strengthening of muscles you didn’t realize you have. As I age it becomes clear that any muscle that isn’t stretched that day is guaranteed to become stiff and hurt later.
The movements of Tai Chi are “reasonable” in the sense that you won’t find yourself imitating a pretzel at any time. That neglects obscure muscles like the psoas, piriformis, etc. which yoga will exercise. Also, “flow yoga,” which is a moving style, uses body weight for strength training in a way that Tai Chi doesn’t. But even though it’s motion it’s not the balance-challenging movement that Tai Chi provides.
Bottom line: make time for both.
And if you want to add agility and response time, add Zumba.
Wendy
The goal posts moved a bit during the conversation as well. The original question was about robotics companies “worth investigating” to “robotics companies who are cash flow positive, but not named Amazon.” I think we can be forgiven for not understanding the poster meant the latter when he said the former.
However, I think it is a mistake to exclude Amazon because they don’t sell robots (Tesla doesn’t sell robots either, it should be said). But they certainly make money from their robots. Who cares if they are their own best customer? Isn’t making money from robots the point of the discussion?
I saw recently Amazon was working on a humanoid robot for package delivery. The van pulls up, the robot jumps out with your package, runs up the stairs and drops it on your porch. So there is the use case for humanoid robots. Amazon also has an autonomous taxi service where a robot drives around and legally picks up passengers for hire. Which is also something Tesla doesn’t have.
However, those thoughts originated from my simpleton brain which was educated at a state school. I did not learn how to fix a PO box. I did learn how to shotgun beers however. I stand by my life choices.
I’ve been inspired by your Zumba tales and watched a few videos. Man, things happen fast! I need extra slow motion beginner Zumba or something.
I’m a believer in yoga though. I’m going to do some this afternoon, in fact. As you mentioned, it activates muscles you don’t normally use. It makes your whole body feel better. Thing is, I don’t like doing it, so it is kind of hard to get on the mat sometimes. I never regret it though.
For me, yoga since the 80’s, and I have recently added (because I live in Mexico and just do not enjoy zumba) various traditional Mexican dancings.
I am working hard on balance strengthening (because big ski trip end of February with nephews) and so love learning/working on this (showing one of about 30 variations making up what is called “Huapango” aka ancestrally two centuries ago in California as “Fandango”):
That’s where I learned to sail. And I got a similar treatment. I tried out for swimming but got bored doing laps. I said to myself, “I think I saw a sailing pavilion. I did!” At the pavilion I said I wanted to join the sailing team. They handed me a broom and told me to sweep the pavilion. “Sweep the pavilion?” “Yes, sweep the pavilion!”
Try Zumba Gold. The classes are either live or recorded on Zumba.com. Zumba Gold uses music that is slower than regular Zumba so you can learn the steps and get into aerobic fitness.
The thing about getting older…the nerves slow down. When you do Zumba, you have to:
Your eyes see the instructor do the step.
Your brain interprets the step.
Your brain sends a signal to your legs and arms to execute the step.
Your legs and arms actually move to execute the step.
You have to to this before the next musical beat because the next step is different.
The sequence of steps usually repeats three times in a song so remembering the pattern helps keep up. The music is merciless so you really have to focus to keep up.
That’s why doing Zumba is so beneficial for the mind and nervous system in a way that yoga and Tai Chi are not since it’s FAST instead of slow. Studies have shown that doing Zumba actually delays the onset of Parkinson’s disease symptoms.
As for yoga, here’s a very nice, relaxing yoga music track.
