Asked
— Edited
My AMi website has been updated showing more details of the new EZ:1 and EZ:2 robots and it also now links with the great EZ-Robot company!
Applied Machine Intelligence Ltd website
Tony
My AMi website has been updated showing more details of the new EZ:1 and EZ:2 robots and it also now links with the great EZ-Robot company!
Applied Machine Intelligence Ltd website
Tony
It still uses an onboard PC tablet in the mid section?
I think we are getting a little closer to having some opportunity to owning an awesome robot, even if I have to purchase it completed and pay appropriate shipping.
Thank You Toymaker
Steve S
The EZ:1 is a development platform for the EZ:2 (commercial version) so I am not expecting to sell any. It also uses the AIMEC body/head, this was because we had a number of these in the design studio, so it made sense to utilize them from the existing stock.
At first I wanted to try to sell into the hobbyist market, but it soon became clear that this was not practical. I cannot compete with robots like Anthony's XLr-one, just the delivery costs of an EZ:2 robot to the States would cost more than the XLr-one 3D body kit etc!
To be fair, the EZ:2 is a completely different robot to the XLr-one as the EZ:2 comes packed with advanced electronics and sensors and a microprocessor based sub-system that takes all the real-time hard work off the v4. We do not use conventional servos at all, the EZ:2 design uses our precision (worm drive) Smart Servos with high torque and virtually silent operation. Our software will also offer much more than conventional kit robots with an advanced Ai, eye tracking face and object recognition and a NLP (natural language processing) interface that allows the user to speak naturally to the robot (no fixed grammars) and links Dragon DNS 13 speech recognition with ARC.
The base EZ:2 robot will be retailing in the US$3000 region, which is clearly way too high a cost for the hobbyist, I may be able to sell one or two in this sector but it would not be enough to support a business. From this I then realised that the only place I am likely to get good sales traction is in education supplying advanced robots to Schools and Universities. So thats where we will be starting, if this is successful then I want to try to sell into the Personal Robot market, but that is probably some way off as the Personal Robot market is still fledgling but people like Anthony (with his cool robot designs) may help kickstart (excuse the pun) this exciting new marketplace.
Tony
$3000 US is a very reasonable price. I am pricing out what I am looking at for an InMoov build (although it is quite extensive and will have a fast onboard computer and a segway style base and a touch screen) I'm looking at about $3,200 US. This doesn't include a lot of the cool features that you are building in, it is 3d printed, and it doesn't include the AI that has had years of development work, or the DNS engine.
Your price is good to me, even with a shipping cost of say 200-500 usd.
To do what you have done with this robot would cost me an additional $5000 just to get the DNS SDK. By the time it would be what your product for say $3500 would be, I would easily be in $10K. This is just to put the cost you quoted into perspective.
I will end up going the route that I am going as it may profit me in the long run in far more ways than monetarily, such as knowledge and learning to do my own, but if someone were looking for a finished product then your price point is spot on I would say.
It sounds like you probably need a partner in the US to crack this market. Or you can purchase a facility in Asia and dropship from there. I know, easier said than done, but a solid business plan goes a long way...there are plenty of rich plastic surgeons in California, LOL
As for a projected $3000 USD, people always pay for quality. I remember when PCs costed this much, for crap (well, crap NOW) tech. Sometimes you need to create the market. I never knew I wanted/needed an IPhone until it come out, and I havent been without one for 7 years. Sometimes people need to know what they need. Partner up with banks or third party companies that can finance your customers. Even PayPal has a "PayPal Credit" option so your customers can do it in payments...
Regarding the XLR-One, I'm sure Anthony is gonna be real successful at this venture. However you can't compare the AIMEC or the EZ:2 to this, just look at what your robot has to offer, just like what you said. Aimec is not even the same target market as the XLR-One. Anthony is offering a cool, attractive Casing to the hobbyist, I mean its better than just having servo brackets as a "robot", but nonetheless all it is is a CASE. Its a development platform. After buying one of XLRobot's platforms and start putting in $200 HiTec servos on there how much do you think it's gonna cost then? You're offering a complete software package and support alongside your hardware, am I getting somewhere here? I think $3000 is a STEAL. I can envision your EZ:2's selling for quadruple that amount once it hits Ebay and the like, just because they're gonna be hard to get...remember when Playstation 2's came out, they sold an X amount, then when they ran out the first time they were selling for up to $900 on Ebay...
Your custom Smart Servos are a great alternative to high cost servos, it seems like you've already got it figured out you just need a solid business plan. Do it man!
The EZ:1 (development) robot is quite advanced now and almost complete, once everything is beta tested on the EZ:1 we will start "porting" it all over to the EZ:2 and then the plan is to get a couple out to key UK Universities to see how it all works in an educational environment. From there (provided they are taken up and I have made some money to enable me to increase production) I could put the feelers out to the hobbyist community to see how many would sell in that sector, but in reality this be at least a year or so away.
Doombot, I think at some point I will need to talk to you further about this, I think you could be the US partner that may be of great help and even make selling to the US market possible.
Thanks again guys for all your encouragement!
Tony
As mentioned I do believe there is a market for your bots... However, I personally don't know what the market here in North America actually is, but I do know that there is very little in the way of the type bots that you are offering... I built my inMoov on a budget, but as d.cochran mentioned in order to get an inMoov to do even some of the things that EZ:2 can do would cost more than $3000... And even if you could sell an inMoov (legally) it's design is too fragile for consumer sales... It would have to be updated to be more durable...
whoa I wouldn't say that...that's a death sentence
@Toymaker
Send me an email let's see what you need. Mass producing your robot's panels would not be a problem at all. There's so many fiberglassers around here that make fountains, fireplaces, etc...finding workers would not be a problem at all. Texas is abundant in warehouses the government is very "small" business friendly...there are many options if it's just production that's hindering you. Shoot me an email if you want my help I need to know what you need first.
$3k US isn't too bad for hobbiest as others have pointed out. Bearing in mind hobbiests will happily shell out $1500+ for a 3D printer. Having said that, do you know the rough price for the UK market?
P.S. Is the University of Rich a key one? My students (Melvin, JD and Six) would love to have this robot
minibot $4,990
corobot$4,395
genibo-robot-dog $1,729
bioloid-gp-grand-prix-humanoid-robot $2,799
They even have a robot claw....just a claw....listed for $18,000 !
adaptive-gripper
And these are just a few examples of what others are selling. Look how much more advanced your robots are and how good of a deal you are giving! And your bots are the kind we all drool over. Not just some little erector set with 4 wheels and a battery.
Keep up the good work sir. Your robots will be legendary!
Best Regards,
Rex
My $3000 cost (for the basic model) is because I would be selling it direct and this would be after I have achieved volume manufacture costing levels from the FE (far east), if it goes through a distributor/retailer it is likely to be around $4500 after they add their markups, this is why I want to sell direct.
The only way I can see how to get to volume manufacturing costing levels is by selling into the education market first where it could be possible to sell large numbers, assuming that the robot is taken up. Anyway that is the current business plan.
Tony
Not trying to Hijack your thread but Have anyone seen this http://www.drrobot.com/products_hawk.asp , price for a base model is $7500. I can't speak for anyone else, but impatiently waiting for you bot to be available to the public. Your work is amazing, will be willing to pay that $4500 price tag in the U.S. No offense to XL-robots, I think it is two different markets. He is selling a kit, a shell dedicated more for the DIY. I wanted one and I am getting one, but once I did the math of the specific parts combo I want, it will be in the 2 to 3k price range.
I LOVE your works.
Apologies for any grammatical errors.
Oh you....
The EZ:2 robot height is a little over 4 foot.
Tony