I am from West Virginia and I currently live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Canada (at least Alberta) is very cheap for some things (food, housing) and very expensive for other things (computers, gasoline). However, to live in West Virginia is a small fraction of the cost to live here in Edmonton (which is considered to be one of the cheapest places to live in Canada). I really wonder what is going on in the US that keeps companies from locating in West Virginia... The land is cheap, business operation is low in taxes, and the labor force works for close to minimum wage. Granted we do not have a major airport, but Columbus, Ohio and Lexington, Kentucky are only 2.5 hours from Huntington, WV and Pittsburgh, PA is only 30 minutes from Morgantown, WV. If companies really want to keep Americans employed, my question is why not relocate them (and the company) to West Virginia? You can build a castle for the price of a 1 bedroom house in California. We have 2 major Universities in the State and as I said before large cities are merely a car ride away. And before you joke about the incest and the obesity, I ask you have you ever been there? Check out the rivers, mountains, lakes, wildlife, parks, low crime rate, low cost of living, need I go on?
You should check out the level of funding from government sources to develop such robots. 10 Million is only enough to fund a lab for a few years. For example, 5 grad students @ 20,000 per year is 100,000 per year, around $500,000 to get 5 phds from a single lab. Then you have lab techs and post docs which make a bit more. Try more like $100,000,000 then you might see some progress in an autonomous walking machine.
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I am from West Virginia and I currently live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Canada (at least Alberta) is very cheap for some things (food, housing) and very expensive for other things (computers, gasoline). However, to live in West Virginia is a small fraction of the cost to live here in Edmonton (which is considered to be one of the cheapest places to live in Canada). I really wonder what is going on in the US that keeps companies from locating in West Virginia... The land is cheap, business operation is low in taxes, and the labor force works for close to minimum wage. Granted we do not have a major airport, but Columbus, Ohio and Lexington, Kentucky are only 2.5 hours from Huntington, WV and Pittsburgh, PA is only 30 minutes from Morgantown, WV. If companies really want to keep Americans employed, my question is why not relocate them (and the company) to West Virginia? You can build a castle for the price of a 1 bedroom house in California. We have 2 major Universities in the State and as I said before large cities are merely a car ride away. And before you joke about the incest and the obesity, I ask you have you ever been there? Check out the rivers, mountains, lakes, wildlife, parks, low crime rate, low cost of living, need I go on?
You should check out the level of funding from government sources to develop such robots. 10 Million is only enough to fund a lab for a few years. For example, 5 grad students @ 20,000 per year is 100,000 per year, around $500,000 to get 5 phds from a single lab. Then you have lab techs and post docs which make a bit more. Try more like $100,000,000 then you might see some progress in an autonomous walking machine.