"There is only one real solution to this design problem, so I thought I would go ahead and get the design out of the way... Where is the paint?"

"hmmm, how do you kickstart something you can already buy? https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=honda+sonic+cutter"

"Why did Terminator have a heads up Augmented Reality screen in his eyes? He was a robot. Granted he needed computer vision to see, but he didn't need a GUI overlay on his eyes to interpret the data from his own sensors. It made for a good plot device. It gave us a way to get insight into his thought process but it was not needed. People trust other mammals because we can derive their intentions from facial expressions and body movements, we don't trust alligators, because they are always smiling. Augmented reality, in the context of machines, gives us humans a way to derive the intent and understanding of a machine we are interacting with. It is about creating trust before they turn on us.   "

"Hope they got a patent... regardless. I will make one in my garage for personal use. I am also curious if it conflicts with Dean Kamen's patented on the same design to move up / down stairs (cluster of wheels around a central axis) but with a motor and the intent to carry people. "

"The Beats pill uses 2 AA rechargeable batteries. They are fairly standard batteries. Basically the same ones from the Drill tear down but with a different connector. They are no one or less explosion proof as any other battery. One key to safe batteries is a good charging circuit. The beats pill will not power on, even when plugged in without a battery present. That is a safety mechanism, one of many I am sure. "

"When I did the teardown, I broke my battery connector. My only option was to buy a "broken" unit on eBay and tear it apart for the connector / batteries. If you just have worn out batteries, depending on your personal adventurism, you tear down the unit and replace the batteries will rechargeable batteries of equal specification. Three things I will tell you: 1) there is no way to open it without causing some damage that will be visible when you put it back together. 2) the process might require soldering, that battery pack is not made to be disassembled 3) There is a chance that it is not the batteries but something on the board... so you may do all that work for nothing.Also, take care to not break the connector. :P"

"You are "the Man", Ryan Harrison. Thanks for sharing your insights. "

"When I opened the Makita and saw how it was constructed, I realized that it was a mechanical decision. previous to that my thoughts were that the Makita was able to resolve the rear of the drill better by using 3 parts. I know I had a bad habit of adding parts to improve the design. As for them looking like transformers, that is fair. The issue plastics. If you look at electronics, they have moved away from plastics and to glass and metal, as those materials give a products higher perceived ,if not real value. There are a number of drills starting to incorporate metal back into the housing. This has the same effect of increasing perceived value. There are likely many other advantages and disadvantages. Cost and weight to name two. "

"The Ryobi is ABS and the Makita is a Polycarbonate with a 15% glass fill. You can see the glass fill in the Makita, but you don't notice a very much swirl or flow marks. My assumption that the housing are all shot together so there would not be a matching issue. "

"Never design robots to be stronger than humans. It is dangerous. If they are all weak, we can over power them when they try to take over the world. Also make their fingers too big to pull the trigger of a gun, that will give a little bit of an advantage too. "

"I am not a audio engineer so my take on the driver components would not be something that would add value in this article. As for the vibration isolating parts, many of the components, including the wires, were wrapped in foam tape. The plastic housings either had foam tape or TPE gaskets at the interface points with each other and the internal components.  The foam tape and TPE obviously are there to reduce vibration. Even the TPE on the bottom of the product is there (in part) to keep it from vibrating on the table. "

"Apple has a tool at every Apple Store that will carefully remove a display from an iPhone. Once the phone is in the tool, the operator doesn't touch the phone. It is removed mechanically. Without that tool, you would be hard pressed to remove the screen without damaging something. So, me sitting in my office with a few simple tools and no foreknowledge of the construction of the product, is far more likely to damage the device, than a technician (or robot) in a controlled environment. Therefore, I would not take my personal experience with the disassembly and project a conclusion on ability to do "high-value" recycling. I have not reassembled it yet, as I need to solder the battery wire directly to the PCB since I broke the connector. I am waiting until I can get it under a scope. My eye sight is not the greatest anymore, which might have something to do with why I broke it in the first place. "