> New trucks optioned out cost $80k+ and plenty of people pay for that without having much justification of any kind for it.

In the US, certain purchase categories make taking on debt to cover upfront costs trivially easy. Open robotics platforms are not one of those categories, while automobiles are.

Cars are different because there's an industry that provides financing and leasing options to make it very easy to spend beyond your means

It's a misallocation of resources. Actual roboticists can go their entire careers without touching hardware like that, and if they want it they have to spend years writing grants to get ONE to split between three other researchers and a dozen grad students.

Meanwhile a guy who made a fortune in tech optimizing ad placements (not saying that's OP) can pick one up on a lark, and as you said it usually ends up in the garage next to other expensive toys like an $80k truck or autonomous Tesla. Also the $80k trucks are a great example because they're more of a status symbol, just like the robots will be.