It’s a good question - my sense is it is a combination of factors. First, robotics hardware is not at the $20k price point I hypothesized, and the durability is also not good enough to realize a payoff. Second, enabling remote operation would require significant additional investment in sensors and probably enhanced control workstations on the operator end - unlikely to be doable from a laptop. A reliable high speed internet connection would also be required on both ends. And third, human operators can be kind of a wild card. They require training, management, and carry their own security and safety risks.

Again, I’m not saying we’re there, it just feels like the control software is the main bottleneck, and the development of that is now being accelerated by LLMs.