Hadrian is not the first large-scale industrial robot that can complete a whole build from start to finish. It's not even the first outdoor construction robot.
What's remarkable is it's both. As Mike told me, "Anything you can build inside a factory ... we're getting really, really good at. Trouble is, nothing's happening outdoors."
That's because environmental factors like wind and temperature variations can make life difficult for robots outdoors.
Most robots can't adjust to small, quick changes in wind or temperature fast enough to keep up.
That's fine if little wobbles won't make a big difference. But when you're working on something as large-scale as building a house and a light breeze could lead to bricks being laid way out of position, it can get very dangerous.
So up till now, any robot building on such large scales had to be indoors in minutely controlled environments.
Hadrian has overcome this problem using the precision technology Dynamic Stabilisation Technology (DST). DST was developed in Perth by Mike's cousin, Mark Pivac, back in the early 2000s. The computer program measures environmental factors an astounding 2000 times per second, then accounts for them in real time.
If robots replace the construction workers, who then will wolf whistle?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday January 24 2018, @06:20PM (11 children)
You just made "monopoly" a meaningless distinction since any producer now belongs. Thus, you are part of the group of producers. Enjoy your monopoly hiring privileges!
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday January 24 2018, @07:10PM (2 children)
Only when a group colludes to be anti-competitive (like OPEC) does it fall afoul of monopoly definitions.
I think we had the idiot trucker discussion where that particular group can't help but race itself to the bottom, creating a stream of bankruptcies because there's always another idiot willing to do the job for a loss.
And this [youtube.com] is always a problem.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday January 24 2018, @09:18PM
The term you're looking for is "oligopoly".
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday January 26 2018, @03:25PM
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday January 24 2018, @07:19PM (7 children)
Oh, look! collusion exposed for once: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-24/qualcomm-gets-1-2-billion-eu-fine-for-apple-chip-payments [bloomberg.com]
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday January 24 2018, @09:19PM (6 children)
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday January 24 2018, @10:21PM (5 children)
Monopoly (mono - singular) is the extreme form of anti-competitive, counter-free-market business practice, and doesn't exist in pure form in the real world. Even when AT&T "owned" telecoms in the U.S. they did not have a full unqualified monopoly.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday January 25 2018, @12:09AM (4 children)
Except that they did. They were the sole provider of local phone networks throughout most of the US. That makes them a monopoly in truth.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday January 25 2018, @01:05AM (3 children)
For most definitions of most.
OPEC was a cartel, they only controlled a large fraction of the market, but by (legal in their countries) collusion they manipulated the market price - when they could manage to not undercut one another.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday January 25 2018, @01:09AM (2 children)
By population. You're not going anywhere with the AT&T meander.
And no one here disagrees with that. A cartel is not a monopoly because it consists of multiple competing members.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday January 25 2018, @01:32AM (1 child)
A cartel with enough market share to manipulate market prices, acting together to manipulate the market does run afoul of US anti-trust laws - when anybody steps up to enforce them.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday January 25 2018, @03:17AM