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.

I've gotten around delivery costs before...I have shipped multiple electric guitars all over the world and I'm still able to employ "free" shipping on my business...if you're shipping to the US are you using FedEx, DHL, or Chronopost? USPS is always the best way to go here, since FedEx or UPS is ridiculously expensive. Have you looked into Freight?

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!

;)

I agree with Doombot.... There is a definite market in North America for your (these kind of) bots Tony... I spent almost $3000 on 2 3D printers last year... If I had the option to do it again but had the additional choice to buy an EZ:2, I would have bought your EZ:2 instead of the printers...

Thanks David, Doombot this really surprises me that people would go for a $3000 robot at hobbyist level, but this is encouraging.

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

@Tony.... Doombot has a very successful business... I am not going to speak for him, but I think you guys would do quite well working together.... 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...

@Richard R whoa I wouldn't say that...that's a death sentence I'm still building and I'm still learning...

@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.

;)

Love your work Tony!

$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

The University of Rich is so bogus man... I Lost my winter semester seat to Melvin just because he "apparently" scored higher than me on the SATs... I think it's really because his parents had more money... stress