Hvae you ever been curious as to how the cost of Hello Robot’s Stretch 3 robot compares to the retail price of $24,950?
For years I have thought the humanoid was the holy grail of robotics. Now as they have become mainstream, with over half a dozen competitors for some reason my belief has changed. I agree with the concept of a general purpose service robot and the efficiency over may single purpose robots. I understand and have long believe the human form makes sense given our environment. But hearing so many founders parrot this notion has made me question the premise for some reason. Suddenly the thought of humanoid robots seems excessive for most of what we need in the home, that same thought reminded me of the stretch robot project . Recent developments in AI and the application to robotics has re-invigorated my interest in the project and I am thinking of forking the idea with cost in mind. Here are some of the larger costs:
| Item | Price | Quantity | Total Price (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intel RealSense D435if Active Depth Camera | $354.00 | 1 | $354.00 |
| Intel RealSense D405 Passive Stereo Depth Camera | $272.00 | 1 | $272.00 |
| Arducam OV9782 Wide-angle Global Shutter Color Camera | ~$70.00 | 1 | $70.00 |
| Slamtec RPLIDAR A1 2D 360deg Lidar | ~$99.00 | 1 | $99.00 |
| Respeaker v2.0 Microphone Array | ~$64.00 | 1 | $64.00 |
| Bosch BNO085 9-DOF IMU | ~$24.95 | 1 | $24.95 |
| Analog ADXL343 Accelerometer | ~$5.95 | 1 | $5.95 |
| Sharp GP2Y0A51SK0F Infrared Cliff Sensors | ~$11.95 | 1 | $11.95 |
| Sanyo Denki SANMOTION 103H7 Series Stepper Motor | ~$142.16 | 4 | $568.62 |
| ATSAMD21G18A-MU Microcontroller | ~$4.07 | 5 | $20.35 |
| 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub (mid-range price) | ~$25.00 | 2 | $50.00 |
| 4-Port USB 2.0 Hub | ~$13.00 | 2 | $26.00 |
| 8W Stereo Amplifier | ~$10.40 | 1 | $10.40 |
| Dynamixel XC430 Servo | $119.90 | 2 | $239.80 |
| Dynamixel XL430-W250-T Servo | $49.90 | 2 | $99.80 |
| Intel NUC 12 (base model) | ~$639.00 | 1 | $639.00 |
| Power Sonic 12VDC 18Ah Deep Cycle SLA Battery | $44.95 | 2 | $89.90 |
| Total (USD) | $2884.72 |
It seems like there could be a path to a lower cost alternative.
As an aside, I created the entire table and looked up pricing via Chat GPT 4. It was an interesting experience. Here is a link to the chat: https://chat.openai.com/c/0af5d756-720d-400a-a364-a53c30a4ba21