Hello.
There's a giant snowstorm here today and I'm stuck inside thinking about robots.
I love machines.
I think that automation is really cool, as you all have heard before,
and even though it takes a little bit of time to invest up front,
the idea of a machine doing something for you - some menial,
boring task that you no longer ever have to do -
is just a great idea.
However, some machines are obviously smarter than others.
Some are just dumb.
Yesterday, I watched a video of a guy making a tier list of deli meat,
and I thought, "I could do that with robots."
So here we go. That's what we're doing today.
Smart gadgets.
Okay, so a little bit of background: these are called "demotics,"
which I had never heard of that word before.
It said, "not to be confused with demotic," which I also had never heard before.
But it does sound a lot like "demonic."
Now, I'm not gonna tier these or judge these by how well they work,
because I honestly don't have that much experience with smart devices.
I really only have my Philips Hue bulbs and that's it.
I'm only going to tier them by how useful I think they are,
and, judging the pros and the cons together,
which ones I would actually think that most people could get some benefit out of.
And also, a lot of smart objects are either monitors or they're automators.
Oftentimes, the monitors don't have automation qualities - so for example,
there are a lot of smart electronics for wearables -
fitness trackers, health monitors - but they pretty much just give you an alarm or
tell you you're not walking enough steps today,
but it doesn't do anything FOR you.
It doesn't do the walking for you.
So I'm not going to be judging those, because there's no automation included in them.
This also includes camera systems, which I think are kind of creepy.
Smart mirrors, too.
Like, they have mirrors now that have a gym inside the mirror,
and that's again not automation, so I'm leaving those off of this tiering system.
All right, so here we go.
"S Tier" means better than "A Tier."
For people who are unaware, S Tier is the ultimate.
It's going to be rare that I give something an S Tier because I'm critical.
I have a list of all of the things I want to cover, and I'm going to -
as we go down the list -
put them in the tier where I think they belong,
and I might go back and have to move some things around,
but let's hope not.
I'm going to try to do this all in one one go.
And actually, the first thing I want to start off with is the fictional stuff.
We're going to start with the wardrobe chooser from Clueless.
Clueless: classic movie, just great costumes all over,
and the wardrobe chose her yellow plaid blazer-and-skirt combo.
Iconic.
Into it.
I would not find this useful though, because I tend to wear the same thing every day.
I'm gonna give it just an even C.
We're gonna move it over to C.
Next up in the fictional world, we have the wood cutting machine from Beauty and the Beast.
Does anybody remember this?
I found this fascinating when I was a kid.
I was so fascinated by it.
But again, I don't cut any wood logs for a fire.
I don't think I've ever lived in a place with a wood fire,
so I find this to be completely nonsensical in today's modern world.
We're trying to modernize and automate and make it like the future,
and this just feels like a relic of the past,
so I'm putting it lower.
We're gonna go... we're gonna go E.
Oh man, next is the breakfast machine from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
That movie kind of scarred me when I was a kid.
It was too scary!
But the breakfast machine was pretty cool, and I really don't love cooking,
so I feel like I would love to have someone or something
cook all of my food for me so i don't even have to think about it.
I'm gonna put this one higher.
This one's definitely gonna go up on the list.
I'm gonna put it in B.
Last in the fictional category:
this is the most frightening one.
This is from the Disney Channel Original Movie "Smart House."
Was anybody else scarred by that movie?
At first, I thought it was the coolest thing that all of this was automated,
and it seems super doable now with today's tech,
but back when this movie came out, it was like the coolest, most futuristic thing
I could imagine, but then everything kind of went haywire
and got to be kind of scary.
Definitely going in F, though.
Definitely not what we want our robots to be.
Okay, the next section I'm gonna call "convenience."
It's stuff that you could monitor inside or outside of your home.
It's all kind of remote and I think most of it's bluetooth stuff.
So the first one is Hue bulbs, which you all know I love.
Great for lots of things, including as an alarm,
including as a security system - you can randomize it when you're not home.
So I think that this is gonna go in S Tier.
First S Tier.
Solid.
Oh, when I was reading about "internet of things," uh, they called that random light generator
(when you're not at home)
they called it "mockupancy" because it makes it seem like somebody's home,
and it's - uh - I just thought that word was awesome.
"Mockupancy."
All right, next we have something that I want so badly.
I want it so badly, and it is shades.
Window shades that go up and down, according to either set times or the weather outside.
There's also the advantage of them reducing energy consumption,
because if it's hot outside and there's sun going through your window,
these shades know, and they can go down,
and then you don't have to use as much energy to cool your house.
It's just awesome.
This I'm definitely putting in S Tier, and at some point in my life,
I hope that we get to the point where this is, like, standard or this is normal,
because it just makes so much sense
that the windows would regulate themselves.
I don't know about the next one -
the Nest thermostat -
or any kind of smart thermostat, doesn't have to be Nest.
Apparently they also do air quality control.
I'm gonna say just a solid C.
I'm gonna move it... I'm gonna move this to B.
I think that this is another one of those things where it should
just be standard across all houses.
Ooh, furniture that is embedded with phone charging pads.
I think this is really cool. I also think that it could be hidden really well in any design,
so you can use the same tech across a whole bunch of different looks.
I think this is pretty cool, but it's not as plug-and-play.
The customization aspect of it that is cool also makes it not as easy to use, I guess.
So I am going to put this one in C solidly.
And see, here you go.
Gosh, I love robots so much, they're so cool.
Oh, this next one, I - this is another one that's a bit too far for me.
It's a bit too scary, although it is super plug-and-play.
Um - it would be your assistant. Your smart assistants.
Your google home, your Amazon Alexa.
And I don't know why you would want something listening to you constantly,
so, man...
I just know that a lot of people get use out of these things.
I just don't personally feel like it's adding much value.
Most of what it does, you could just ask your phone, so
there's no need to have this extra device, in my opinion.
I'm gonna put this one in G, because it's - it's scary!
I don't know, it's getting down there into like the -
the Smart House!
Like, I'm - I'm not touching it.
It's going to D.
That's it.
This one's definitely cuter.
This is probably the cutest one I have on here,
and that is self-watering plant pots.
You still need to add water, I think, to these, so
it's not full automation, but I could see in the future
them having the option to have full automation for these.
I found this website for this company called "Click and Grow,"
which is like indoor gardening with these pots that self-regulate
with water and light - and to put seeds in these, you just plug in a little pod.
Especially in places where there's not as good of access to grocery stores,
this could be an option.
You know, ship a bunch of pods to people, and they could plant -
plant and grow their own food without having to have
the experience or spending time on it.
I think this is a super cool option, i'm gonna put it in A.
I'm definitely gonna put it in A. It's decided.
All right, last in this section is smart power outlets, which I've talked about before.
I'm a big fan of them. I think that the cool thing about them is that
you can apply them to any non-smart devices.
I'm gonna put them in A.
The next section I have is only two things:
the section is security, and the first thing I have is motion sensors and alarms.
And I think that this can be also lights that go on automatically.
That's a super easy plug-and-play thing that a lot of people have.
It's just motion sensor lights, and it's great for house security.
I'm just gonna put that in A.
And then the other security thing I have is the August Home Lock.
I think there's also a Nest door lock, a RemoBell...
This stuff is creepy.
I just think that you need something a bit more physical, like a key,
to open up, and just having everything in this
one smart device, also, I feel like would not be as reliable as I would want it to be.
Let's go on and C. Final answer.
Okay, the next section is appliances.
So, it's like smaller objects - often electronic - that anyone can buy.
You don't necessarily need to install it.
And I feel like one of the most widely known and widely-used
smart appliances is a Roomba - little vacuum cleaner robots.
I think that they're super cute and funny, and I like the idea of it.
And maybe if you have kids or pets, it makes sense to have,
but I think that with what I've heard, they can't get into corners very well,
and they can't clean up certain areas of your house, so it doesn't really
seem like it's a replacement for vacuuming.
It's just more kind of a supplement throughout the week.
I don't even think it's A Tier.
Putting in B. Putting it in B.
And then there's a mop version, too, that washes your floor.
I don't know anyone who has one that washes the floor.
I don't know if they work well. I'm gonna put this one in C.
There are robot pool cleaners that will clean your pool for you.
This one's going under the mop, because I think more people would get
use out of having a mopping robot than they would having a pool-cleaning robot.
It is going in D.
The next one is a lawn mower, and I think that at least in America,
probably most people do have lawns, or at least your landlord has to mow the lawn.
This thing is so funny-looking. The Worx Lawn Mower - I'm gonna put in D.
However, I do see people using automatic sprinkler systems to water their lawn.
That's, like, a residential thing and a commercial thing, so
this is definitely more widely-available for that.
I'm going to give this a B rating.
The next one's also kind of dumb - but it's so cool-looking!
It's a fridge that orders groceries for you.
I would love this - I hate grocery shopping, and I tend to eat
the same things over and over again.
I feel like it probably is not very plug-and-play at all.
You'd probably have to spend a lot of time setting things up.
This is probably not usable for most people, but they just look so cool!
Man... you know what, I'm putting this in B -
which I'm sure that's going to be contested, but it looks cool,
and I feel like especially with people getting used to
having their groceries delivered now during the pandemic,
it's just going to become more of a normal thing for people
to have their food delivered to them and to not go to a grocery store.
This is just like the next level of that. Having your fridge order your food for you.
Next up is another cool one: the Toto toilets.
These things open when you walk up to them; talk about automation!
Save you so much time!
I don't - I mean, I feel like this is more usable than the fridge.
Everybody could get use out of this. It's going to be a tier...
It's got to be - it's got to be above the fridge,
and I already put the fridge at B.
I'm not taking that back. So we're putting this in A.
Last but not least, self-driving cars.
Seen the - the Google Maps cars going by, taking pictures of everybody.
I think that most people are afraid of self-driving cars, but at the same time,
you're willing to go on public transportation, and, like,
when I go on public transportation, I don't know the bus driver.
I don't know who's conducting the train, but I trust it,
and I think that having a self-driving car - sure, you'd be the owner of the car, I guess.
Maybe you wouldn't even own the car! Hmm...
But it would just be like a smaller version of what we already do on public transportation.
You don't have the control over it, but you trust it anyways, and it gets you from A to B.
I think honestly it would probably be safer overall if we all had self-driving cars.
I like the idea of this. We're going for it - we're putting this in S.
We're putting this in S Tier. I think it's gonna be a standard!
It's gonna be like the "new normal."
It's just gonna start to creep into all the new cars that are coming out.
It's gonna have some self-driving abilities, and then eventually, everything's just gonna switch.
We all used to be afraid of working from home and now everyone does it.
So I think this is definitely gonna be the same case for self-driving cars.
All right, we're heavy in the B category, but I'm gonna leave it.
I'm happy with where we ended up. It makes sense that,
like, the the majority of the smart objects / smart gadgets / smart house
items that we have now are, you know, kind of mid-level.
They're - they're not complete failures.
They're not the most easy thing to use though, and I don't know
how long it's going to take for people to start adapting
more of these to their normal daily life.
I am excited for when houses and architecture becomes more intelligent.
I think that there's a lot of hope for this sort of stuff, and I mean,
we've covered automation in the past and having a paradox of choice,
and this is just all gonna help clear out all of the stuff that
we don't necessarily need to be spending our time on so that we can
spend our time on things that actually matter to us.
Unless, of course, you love cooking and cleaning and turning the lights on.
Then obviously, you should, you know, not take part in this.
All right - that's all I got for today, so hope you enjoyed that.
'til next time!
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