Physical autonomy needs a maintenance economy

Robotics coverage likes the first successful movement. Deployment is defined by the thousandth cycle, the damaged sensor and the operator who knows when a task has left its safe envelope.

Physical autonomy creates work around maintenance, calibration, training and recovery. Those costs are not evidence that the technology failed; they are part of what the technology is. A robot becomes useful when its full operating economy is visible, including the people who keep it honest.