I Changed My Oil. Now I Want a Robot.

For the first time in forever, I changed my own oil.

Got the car up, drained it, swapped the filter, put fresh oil in. About 40 minutes.

Every time I do this, I remember how simple it is. Then I remember the setup, the mess, and the cleanup.

Naturally, my brain went straight to: could I build a robot for this?

Something that rolls underneath the car, finds the drain plug, catches the old oil, changes the filter, and handles the refill.

I know. Saying that in a paragraph is considerably easier than making it work.

Every car is different. Access is different. And I'd want a lot of confidence that the thing doing this actually finished the job properly. But what if I started with one car? Mine.

We may be replacing a car soon. Which means I've already started wondering whether I should keep the old one as a test vehicle.

Because apparently selling it would be too straightforward.

Would anyone buy an oil-changing robot? Would you use one at home instead of going to the shop? Or does this make more sense in a shop, where it could be used all day?

That's the part I'd want to work out. What would it cost to build? How much work would it actually remove? If I still have to do most of the setup and cleanup, have I really solved my problem?

There's a perfectly reasonable chance the answer is, “Aaron, just spend the 40 minutes changing your oil.”

Fair.

But I keep thinking about Google Maps. I could get across the country with an atlas. I did. Being able to do something didn't mean I wanted to keep doing it the same way.

Maybe that's where some useful robotics ideas start. The little jobs around the house, garage, or office that we know how to do but would happily hand over.

I'm not claiming I've invented anything here. I just think working through the math and figuring out what it would take could be fun.

Another side project. To go with the other 800.

I leave tomorrow morning for RES, hosted by the folks at SICK, and this is the kind of question I'm taking with me.

What everyday task would you actually pay a robot to take off your hands?

And if you've got an idea sitting in your own pile of side projects, I want to hear it.

See you at RES.