🤖@Pave_Robotics is building Tracer, the first fully autonomous road worker. Tracer autonomously detects, cleans, and seals asphalt cracks cheaper, faster, and more efficiently than a human. ycombinator.com/launches/MmN-p… Congrats on the launch, @JoshAKelly and @mlandonsmith!
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith Very cool Potholes next!
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith This is awesome and badly needed. But anyone working on something better material than asphalt? 🤔
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith and ppl think it's not coming for blue collar
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith Good luck beating union reg capture. Please prove me wrong.
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith Cool!!! Now make it do kintsugi
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith this is awesome
@ycombinator @paulg @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith I love this! Just an idea for improving aesthetics in our lives, make the sealant as close to the same color as the road if possible.
@ycombinator @paulg @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith Very practical use case. Would be cool to see these on the roads.
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith this is awesome!
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith Here's what we think @ycombinator
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith Will we still need the other 9 government employees to watch the robot be the one doing the work?
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith This is amazing and not an industry too many are looking at. Seeing the level of road construction automation that is happening in China should be a wake up call for us to bring down costs through robotics.
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith Does it do DFS or BFS?😜
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith sounds like a game changer for road maintenance, Congrats to whole team
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith Yeah this is great! I did this work during college summers and my dad was in charge of all equipment for a county highway department. Add SAFETY to the list, that is a big one! Can’t wait to see what else is next…. Way to create a new category!
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith Name it crack bot or we unsub.
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith Your robot, filled with paint, making white turn/lane arrows, cross walks, and text on our streets would interest my small rural Texas town of 3,033 residents (speaking as a city councilor). Do you need a test site?
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith Congrats on the launch! My dad attempted to solve this exact problem in the late 90s using 90s tech: USPTO# US-6171017-B1 He never got the funding to develop it beyond a working prototype that hasn't survived. Let me know if you'd like to chat about any of the hurdles he faced.
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith Fix the Houston potholes
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith this is actually very cool, great work
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith So you get a human to lug this out and watch it for a few hours and then bring it somewhere else? Economics don’t make any sense here.
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith The time of real world tech is beginning!
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith Next automatic painter fix street line paint
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith Las Vegas could use a couple of these
@ycombinator @paulg @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith cheaper and faster, but not meeting the baseline standard of repair quality from what this promo video demos, limits utility of this. even ignoring all other defects types and focusing solely on cracks, there are many factors that define repair needs beyond just spilling filler.
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith the lego mindstorm line robot on crack
@ycombinator @paulg @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith YC said build something the world wants
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith This is really interesting and a good idea. I am curious how the device detects and maps the cracks. It can't just follow them and wander around. It seems like an overhead drone shot could be digitized. Then, you have that old intractable salesman's route programming problem.
@ycombinator @Pave_Robotics @JoshAKelly @mlandonsmith The market for this is small
