How Close Are We to Humanoid Robots? (msn.com) 92
At CES in January, Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang "stood flanked by 14 humanoid robots from different companies," remembers the Washington Post. But how close are we to real-world robot deployments?
Agility Robotics "says its factory is designed to eventually manufacture 10,000 robots a year," the Post adds (with "some" of its robots "already at work in e-commerce warehouses and auto parts factories.") Amazon even invested $150 million in the 10-year-old company (spun out from Oregon State University's robotics lab) in 2022, according to the article, "and has tested the company's robots in its warehouses." The e-commerce revolution has spawned sprawling warehouses across the country where products must be organized and customer orders assembled and shipped, but some human workers have said the repetitive work is low paid and leaves them prone to injury. Agility rents out its robots to warehouse owners it says have struggled to keep their human jobs filled, including logistics company GXO, which uses them at a warehouse for Spanx shapewear in Flowery Branch, Georgia, northeast of Atlanta. The robots pick up baskets of clothing from wheeled robots and walk them over to conveyor belts that take them to other parts of the facility.
Agility Chief Business Officer Daniel Diez said facilities like this represent a first step for humanoid robots into gainful employment. "This work gets paid, and we have eyes on large-scale deployments just doing this, and that's what we're focused on," he said. German auto parts company Schaeffler uses Agility robots to load and unload equipment at a factory in Cheraw, South Carolina. Auto part plants have become a favored proving ground for humanoid robots, with Boston Dynamics, the company famous for its videos of back-flipping robots, doing tests with its majority owner, Hyundai.
But meanwhile, RoboForce makes a robot that has two arms on a base with four wheels, the article notes, "providing stability and making it possible to lift more weight than a bipedal robot." Humanoid designs make sense "if it is so important to justify the trade-off and sacrifice of other things," RoboForce CEO Leo Ma tells the Post. "Other than that, there is a great invention called wheels."
Still, the article argues there's "a new drive to make humanoid robots practical," fueled by "the surge of investment in AI" combined with advancements in robotics that "make humanoid designs more capable and affordable." Years of steady progress have made legged robots better at balancing and stepping through tricky terrain. Improved batteries allow them to operate for longer without trailing industrial power cords. AI developers are adapting the innovations behind services like ChatGPT to help humanoids act more independently... The progress has triggered a frenzy of investment in humanoid robots and made them into a mascot for the idea that AI will soon reorder the world on the scale tech leaders have promised... Venture capitalists have invested over $5 billion in humanoid robotics start-ups since the beginning of 2024, according to financial data firm Pitchbook, and the largest tech corporations are also placing bets... Meta is working on integrating its own AI technology with humanoid robots, and Google researchers are collaborating with Austin-based humanoid robot start-up Apptronik... A host of humanoid robot companies has spawned in China, the world leader in complex manufacturing, where the government is subsidizing the industry. Six of the 14 robots that shared the stage with Nvidia's Huang were made by Chinese companies; five were American.
"China's Unitree sells a 77-pound humanoid that stands 4-foot-3 for $16,000..."
Agility Robotics "says its factory is designed to eventually manufacture 10,000 robots a year," the Post adds (with "some" of its robots "already at work in e-commerce warehouses and auto parts factories.") Amazon even invested $150 million in the 10-year-old company (spun out from Oregon State University's robotics lab) in 2022, according to the article, "and has tested the company's robots in its warehouses." The e-commerce revolution has spawned sprawling warehouses across the country where products must be organized and customer orders assembled and shipped, but some human workers have said the repetitive work is low paid and leaves them prone to injury. Agility rents out its robots to warehouse owners it says have struggled to keep their human jobs filled, including logistics company GXO, which uses them at a warehouse for Spanx shapewear in Flowery Branch, Georgia, northeast of Atlanta. The robots pick up baskets of clothing from wheeled robots and walk them over to conveyor belts that take them to other parts of the facility.
Agility Chief Business Officer Daniel Diez said facilities like this represent a first step for humanoid robots into gainful employment. "This work gets paid, and we have eyes on large-scale deployments just doing this, and that's what we're focused on," he said. German auto parts company Schaeffler uses Agility robots to load and unload equipment at a factory in Cheraw, South Carolina. Auto part plants have become a favored proving ground for humanoid robots, with Boston Dynamics, the company famous for its videos of back-flipping robots, doing tests with its majority owner, Hyundai.
But meanwhile, RoboForce makes a robot that has two arms on a base with four wheels, the article notes, "providing stability and making it possible to lift more weight than a bipedal robot." Humanoid designs make sense "if it is so important to justify the trade-off and sacrifice of other things," RoboForce CEO Leo Ma tells the Post. "Other than that, there is a great invention called wheels."
Still, the article argues there's "a new drive to make humanoid robots practical," fueled by "the surge of investment in AI" combined with advancements in robotics that "make humanoid designs more capable and affordable." Years of steady progress have made legged robots better at balancing and stepping through tricky terrain. Improved batteries allow them to operate for longer without trailing industrial power cords. AI developers are adapting the innovations behind services like ChatGPT to help humanoids act more independently... The progress has triggered a frenzy of investment in humanoid robots and made them into a mascot for the idea that AI will soon reorder the world on the scale tech leaders have promised... Venture capitalists have invested over $5 billion in humanoid robotics start-ups since the beginning of 2024, according to financial data firm Pitchbook, and the largest tech corporations are also placing bets... Meta is working on integrating its own AI technology with humanoid robots, and Google researchers are collaborating with Austin-based humanoid robot start-up Apptronik... A host of humanoid robot companies has spawned in China, the world leader in complex manufacturing, where the government is subsidizing the industry. Six of the 14 robots that shared the stage with Nvidia's Huang were made by Chinese companies; five were American.
"China's Unitree sells a 77-pound humanoid that stands 4-foot-3 for $16,000..."
What does it do? (Score:5, Insightful)
What exactly does Agility's robot do that can't be done just as easily by a fixed robotic arm with an attachment to grab and hold the baskets? The fixed arm would be cheaper and wouldn't have battery-life issues, and probably would require less maintenance (fewer moving parts). This sounds like a solution in search of a problem.
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A general-purpose humanoid robot with human-like intelligence and dexterity will be able to substitute for a human being. It's true that special-purpose non-humanoid robots may do a better job at specific tasks, but due to the economy of scale (commoditization) of mass-produced general-purpose humanoid robots, they will be available at a lower price than lower-volume special-purpose robots. That's my understanding of the theory, anyway.
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It will be interesting to see if the idea is ever verified in practice.
Still seems like part of the humanoid robot will still be cheaper than the whole robot.
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Re:What does it do? (Score:4, Interesting)
This sounds like a solution in search of a problem.
A fixed robot is different than a mobile robot. Traversing stair cases and opening doors in the same trip is a big one I hear about. These companies want a general purpose robot that can interact in a human world, and fixed arms or other modals will not be nearly so easy to use in a house or factory. There are buttons at 1.5 meters high, and screens and handles and stairs and knobs and narrow paths.
Not saying they are useful or coming tomorrow, but that's really it. I mean even Doctor Who with the Daleks was making fun of them getting stopped by stairs - I wondered how R2D2 got up and down stairs, and the newer films have show he uses a ton of energy to power jets in his feet.
The robotic companies are testing in factories because 1) they are used to programming and working with robots in places like manufacturing facilities and 2) the factories have the money to buy one if they find it useful, and also help define the limits of what these things can do.
Re:What does it do? (Score:4, Funny)
I wondered how R2D2 got up and down stairs
R2D2 navigated rugged desert canyons, so stairs shouldn't be too much of a challenge.
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They never showed him in the original three doing anything other than wheeling across flat ground. Again, jets in his feet to get over and around stuff he couldn't wheel or little step over is I'm sure now canon for these three movies...
:)
Jets in the feet of course don't work so well in a house with carpets or wood flooring.
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I wondered how R2D2 got up and down stairs,
One case [youtube.com]. Also I recall there was a scene in the original where he was descending stairs. I couldn't find a youtube clip for that one.
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If a job could be done by a robot arm it probably would be already. This is for replacing jobs that they need humans for.
In any case I expect that the revolution will start with China. They have some impressive humanoid robots already, but most importantly they have a huge number of companies producing and deploying them. They have already got the cost down by a factor of 10 on the dog style ones. It's probably already too late for Western companies to catch up.
We aren't close at all (Score:1)
We can make a robot that can look humanoid and act a bit human. But we're 50+ years from a robot that has the manual dexterity of a human. We won't see a humanoid robot that can sculpt like Michelangelo or paint like Rembrandt for at least 50 years, if not longer. Our linear actuator/motor technology has plateaued for many decades with no foreseeable improvement. The only hope is some sort of artificial muscle tech, but materials tech in that field has also plateaued for a few decades.
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But we're 50+ years from a robot that has the manual dexterity of a human
... and in 50 years, we'll still be 50+ years away. Humanoid robots don't make any sense.
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But we're 50+ years from a robot that has the manual dexterity of a human
... and in 50 years, we'll still be 50+ years away. Humanoid robots don't make any sense.
Indeed. This is just some humans wanting servants that look human. On the engineering side, the whole idea is nonsense.
Some of us are closer (Score:2)
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Why do you want a robot that can sculpt like Michelangelo or paint like Rembrandt? We already have works by Michelangelo and Rembrandt. Copying them is unoriginal at best and fraudulent at worst.
It's also boring, and doesn't fit into modern cultural tastes. There's a reason museums struggle to get the public to come view centuries old sculptures and paintings. There's a handful of works everyone wants to see because they are iconic, like the Mona Lisa. But even that disappoints most people when they see i
Re: We aren't close at all (Score:3)
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We can make a robot that can look humanoid and act a bit human. But we're 50+ years from a robot that has the manual dexterity of a human. We won't see a humanoid robot that can sculpt like Michelangelo or paint like Rembrandt for at least 50 years, if not longer. Our linear actuator/motor technology has plateaued for many decades with no foreseeable improvement. The only hope is some sort of artificial muscle tech, but materials tech in that field has also plateaued for a few decades.
AI-generated art seems to be unarguably on-par with the quality of michelangelo or rembrandt (setting aside the extent to which it is derivative or truly original), but I agree manual dexterity of physical robots seems to be lagging for some reason. My sense of it is that the problem isn't computational but physical. We can't seem to develop physical robots with the same raw weight/power/dexterity/flexibility ratios that animals posess in their muslces/skeleton. If we have a computer simulation of a cat
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How many humans can "sculpt like Michelangelo or paint like Rembrandt"?
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It all depends on how you define "humanoid." I don't think it's fair to define it as "human-like in every way" or "as capable as humans in every way." Humanoid robots will be built with key areas of focus. Some might be focused on delivering stuff, some might focus on assisting elderly people, some might focus on farm work, and so on. None of these will be able to do the jobs the other ones can do, but could still all be considered "humanoid" if they have arms, walk around on legs, and have a head of sorts.
We've Been Humanoid Robots Since 1840 (Score:1)
What's the use case for bipedal humanoid form? (Score:2)
In the many videos I have seen of humanoid robots the two-legged human form is invariable awkward notable less useful than machine model. Even if you look at those incredible Boston Dynamics videos where the bipedal robot leaps around on boxes, dances, flips, you can appreciate the technical know-how that made it possible but wonder do you really need it? There are lots of constructions that would be better at everything except resembling a person.
The four-legged robot dogs make more sense. Much easie
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Think about how slow rovers like Curiosity are. I mean, they are SLOW. They don't cover much ground in a day. I'm too lazy to look up why, before posting this (but I will after). But I bet it has something to do with not wanting to pick a shitty path that knocks it over and puts an end to the mission.
I can't help but think BD robots could cover more of that ground, and much more dynamically and perhaps autonomously pick a path. Easily. I think the problem there would be battery life and charging. A big as
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Think about how slow rovers like Curiosity are. I mean, they are SLOW. They don't cover much ground in a day. I'm too lazy to look up why, before posting this (but I will after).
There are som practical reasons, like time lag between earth and Mars, and with still needing to converse back and forth with earth for instructions on how to move. But..
A bipedal robot with the balancing capabilities we now have for them, coupled with advances in computing power, and the inherent quick response of bipedalism coupled with those advances I noted, yeah - this would be pretty cool.
Re:What's the use case for bipedal humanoid form?e (Score:2)
Well, that was kind of my point. With a suitable AI, all those comms to get anything done would not be necessary. The robot could have a target (say, a set of coordinates to get to) and a suggested path to go by. But after that, it would be up to the robot to get there, using its AI to keep itself out of trouble and its humanoid form to get itself out of trouble when necessary. Then it would only need to report back and get a mission update at designated checkpoints or when it "decided" it needed help or f
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Well, that was kind of my point.
Exactly. I'm completely on board with what you note. If we look into biology, there are all manner of transport mechanisms, like Spiders and centipedes with legs that coordinate. Four legged animals, who give up a lot of manipulation dexterity for ease of balance, and then there are the bipedal. Birds who need wings to fly, and then us. Our tradeoffs are extra stress on the legs, but having free arms and of course those opposable thumbs, seems to work out well.
The only creatures that have rotation based
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Thanks for admitting up front your laziness.
The most important thing to understand is that the whole mission is to explore in detail the surface of Mars in an area that has never been examined before. Although over time we want to rover to check out different areas as it continues its mission it has no need to get anywhere fast. Every meter of unexplored Mars surface is, at this point, as informative and unknown as every other meter. It is making detailed observations every centimeter of the way. NASA was n
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Oh, I get all that.
But all of that not withstanding, my comment was about having new mission capability and advancing the state of the art, not need for the current mission.
Even so, wouldn't it be nice if, for whatever reason one might come up with, someone decided "oh man, we want to go over THERE to check THAT out ASAP", and they could get a "rover" over there this week, rather than some time in a year? That's the kind of advancement I'm talking about.
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The four-legged robot dogs make more sense.
I think I'd find it annoying to have an extra set of legs like a Centaur [wikipedia.org]. The hind quarter would just get in the way most of the time, even though the extra stability would be useful in some situations - I suspect those situations would be in the minority. I think there is reason such things haven't evolved.
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The reason such things haven't evolved is that our many-agos ancestors evolved from fish with four fins into tetrapods. Adding another pair of limbs is not something that's easy to do. It's much easier to lose the legs, like whales did.
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The world we've built is built for our shape -- bipedal, upright. While specialist shapes can be useful in limited circumstances, a bipedal human-shaped robot would be adaptable to the world that already exists.
I don't want a humanoid, I want my laundry done (Score:2)
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Can't find a wife, eh?
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Now I am basically semi-retired, I do the laundry and cooking in my household, while my wife earns the big bucks, and I spend the rest of my day writing games that probably no one will play.
Hurry up and invent a laundry bot already! If it can put the dishes in the dishwasher and empty it again and take out the trash too, so much the better. If it can also do tiling and painting, it'd be really awesome, because my last bathroom tiling job cost $2000 in tiles but $12000 for someone to lay them - and frankly,
Re:I don't want a humanoid, I want my laundry done (Score:5, Funny)
Reminds me of the old joke (quick version):
1) man meets woman in bar. She's hot, dressed and "ready to go". Tells him, in her best "fuck me now" voice, that her name is Hannah, and she will do anything he wants for $200.
2). He gulps hard, starts to sweat, hands shaking a bit, and he says "Anything?"
3). She pulls close, her face inches away, she confirms, "Anything! I won't leave until you're completely satisfied and can't take any more."
4). He says, "uh....ok....I only live 5 minutes away. Let's go."
5). They get in his car, drive to his house. They go inside. Right away, they are greeted by his hot, sexy wife."
6). The woman from the bar sees the wife and is about the panic, wondering how this man will get himself out of this one!
7). To her surprise, the man's wife greets them warmly. The man tells her, "Sweetie, this is Hannah. She's going to mow the grass, paint the house, do the dishes and all the laundry, and it's only going to cost me $200!
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Hmm... Are you interested in and capable of writing a literacy development app/game?
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It was not intended as a deep philosophical statement. Just a funny one-liner. If you didn't find it funny, try putting your dick in a blender and see if that's any better for you.
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Can't find a wife, eh?
Or maybe already had one! 8^)
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Or two (;
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My wife will wash, but won't hang. That's the only part of the job I end up having to do. She just leaves it in a basket on the floor. Granted, she has a lot of health problems herself, but I have back issues myself. Plus I work a job that is physically demanding (I fix large printers for a *Very* hated company here that likes to brick printers left and right over ink, but I work in commercial and couldn't care less if I saw "After market" unless it is the root cause), so I come home and hurt by the end of
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My wife will wash, but won't hang.
There exist these fabulous things called "dryers". They work much like a washing machine, in that you load one with clothes, close the door, turn it on and when you come back some time later, the task is complete!! I'd highly recommend investing in one.
When we bought our new house a few months ago, the bastards took the washer and dryer with them. The new house is set up for an electric dryer and the old house uses a gas dryer. So, we had to buy a new dryer for the new house. We decided to buy a fancy "all
We *HAVE* them, they're just pointless. (Score:5, Insightful)
They exist now. They're either small toys, or large horrendously expensive limited-purpose things.
The problem is that they're pointless. Anything a humanoid robot can do in an automated manner, a specialized non-humanoid robot could do much cheaper.
I don't need Rosie the Robot to use my regular stand-up vacuum cleaner. I have a Roomba.
I don't need a humanoid robot to sit in the driver's seat of a car to drive me around, Waymo exists.
I don't need a humanoid robot to stand in a factory using a spray can to paint a car, automated industrial robots that can do tasks like that (or welding) have existed for decades.
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Robot bodyguard would be kinda nice, for some people, some of the time.
Robot security guards might be handy.
Sex robot would be nice. We are a long way from that kind of technology though.
Robot teaching staff would be nice.
Robot daycare providers could be mighty helpful.
There are definitely some use cases where automation technology would be useful, and packaging it in a humanoid form could either enhance basic functionality (vs non-humanoid form), or provide a "preferred format" for users.
But I think you're
No. Only sexbots. (Score:2)
I like how you list comically retarded applications and the one place where they'll be popular and easy to make, sex robots... well heh that's a long way off.
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Uh....ok.
Well, glad I could help out.
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Humanoid robots have a place in the world as long as prostitution is illegal, and people don't have money to buy pussy. A good robot could bring legal sex to the sexless masses, and a be real benefit to society.
In the meantime, VR is better than nothing, but is still just porn. Woefully insufficient compared to actual sex.
But I agree with you about elder care. However, I would bet that "market" gets prevented, or at least significantly and negatively affected by protestors who would rather see the elderly
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I don't need Rosie the Robot to use my regular stand-up vacuum cleaner. I have a Roomba.
LOL, so do I. Thank you for confirming exactly why stand-up vacuum sales will remain as strong as future Rosie sales. If Roomba was the answer, it would have proved it by now. They suck harder than Mega Maid.
I don't need a humanoid robot to sit in the driver's seat of a car to drive me around, Waymo exists.
They exist. For now. In less than half a dozen cities that apparently want to deal with the manslaughtering setbacks. I wonder if insurance rates in those cities have adjusted for the increased risk of legal autonomous drivers. (Insurance always tells on itself.)
I don't need a humanoid robot to stand in a factory using a spray can to paint a car, automated industrial robots that can do tasks like that (or welding) have existed for decades.
Needless to say the moron building
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I am sure there is a pretty big market for an XQJ-37 Pan-Sexual Roto-Plooker:
https://songmeanings.com/songs... [songmeanings.com]
Maybe I'll buy some, 'eh?
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Anything a humanoid robot can do in an automated manner, a specialized non-humanoid robot could do much cheaper.
Even if all work is done by robots, there are some jobs which are just best done with hands, and which have to be done in spaces designed for humans. It will eventually make sense to have humanoid robots do those jobs. Not now, though, because the very best humanoid robots can't do work that even less-capable-than-average humans can do.
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Not pointless. Sure, they're crude and in early stages of development. But development and advancement *is* a point in itself.
And yes, *currently* a specialized non-humanoid robot can do most things a humanoid robot could do. But as you said, the current robots are *specialized*. That means that for each kind of task, you have to get another specialized robot. A humanoid robot could potentially do the work that many specialized robots can do, without having to buy many specialized robots.
Old people (Score:2)
Declining birth rates means more old people and there is a market to automate their care. There's an anime that made fun of it years ago called Roujin Z but with a robotic bed. Great stuff actually.
Honestly I think we're just going to let all those old people die rather than give them robots let alone caregivers but as far as the purpose of these robots that's kind of the big one.
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Indeed. Humanoid robots make zero sense. The humanoid form is somewhat problematic even on biological systems with self-repair and adaptive capabilities. On machines it is just dumb.
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I've wondered about the Roombas. The main obstacle to me vacuuming is moving the furniture - at least if I want it done right.
I imagine Roomba being a godsend if you have a house with acres of carpet and no furnishings - a type of house I've never been in.
I guess if you're disabled or something, a half-ass cleaning might be better than none. But a half-ass cleaning is easy for me to do without the Roomba.
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A four or six legged robot would be fine for picking strawberries or cucumbers. A somewhat taller one would do for cane fruit. Even taller for apples.
For coconuts something that can climb the tree would be good but that doesn't have to be human shaped.
Manipulators with feedback so you don't crush the berry is the problem, though obviously not on coconuts.
As for the "why"? (Score:5, Insightful)
A lot of comments are just unrelentingly hostile to the idea of humanoid robots. Sure, industrial robots don't need to be humanoid. Welding together the frame of a car? Packing boxes onto pallets? Special purpose robots rule.
However, there are other use cases. First, any robot that needs to interact in flexible ways in the human world. Open doors? Move around in a room full of furniture? Grasp objects designed for human hands? Look at displays placed at human head-height? Obviously, a humanoid form will be most practical.
Second, robots that are designed to interact with humans in sympathetic ways. To take one of the most obvious use-cases: caring for the elderly. That is a hugely difficult and draining task: it is difficult to find enough people to do it, and do it well. Perhaps robots can take on some of the load, but: in order to be accepted by the patients, they will need to come across as friendly and helpful. That means humanoid.
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AI in a research lab is fine. Gets kids some research grant money, advances science (slowly), may lead to interesting things in the future.
AI on the Internet today leads to slop, information pollution, DDOS attacks, copyright infringement on a massive scale. It's a kind of grey goo that's filling up the information network that connects the world and makes it useless. And all that destruction has real effects on the economy,
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A lot of comments are just unrelentingly hostile to the idea of humanoid robots. Sure, industrial robots don't need to be humanoid. Welding together the frame of a car? Packing boxes onto pallets? Special purpose robots rule.
However, there are other use cases. First, any robot that needs to interact in flexible ways in the human world. Open doors? Move around in a room full of furniture? Grasp objects designed for human hands? Look at displays placed at human head-height? Obviously, a humanoid form will be most practical.
Second, robots that are designed to interact with humans in sympathetic ways. To take one of the most obvious use-cases: caring for the elderly. That is a hugely difficult and draining task: it is difficult to find enough people to do it, and do it well. Perhaps robots can take on some of the load, but: in order to be accepted by the patients, they will need to come across as friendly and helpful. That means humanoid.
You need to be at +5. The idea that a robot arm welding cars is some sort of paradigm and the only way that robots should exist is plain odd. Those "robots" won't even be considered robots soon. they are mono environment fixed devices. And as time goes on the robots who are flexible, adaptable to the environment they are in, and motile, and coupled with AI will really start to be placed in use.
Now to the somewhat thorny side issue. Companion robots. We here in the west live in a time where most women
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Women are spoiled in this department but I'm ADHD the the point of barely acting human and my brother is an obese alcoholic and women still fuck us, I guess the rest of dudes are such shit that they'd rather put up with a walking dumpster fire than whatever is wrong with everyone else?
Feels good to be king.... I uh? guess?
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Women are spoiled in this department but I'm ADHD the the point of barely acting human and my brother is an obese alcoholic and women still fuck us, I guess the rest of dudes are such shit that they'd rather put up with a walking dumpster fire than whatever is wrong with everyone else?
Feels good to be king.... I uh? guess?
It is all depending on game. Not all men have game. It isn't that hard to figure out. Go to a bar and approach 10 women, and at least one will bump uglies with you. That's always been true. I take it all of the women you "fuck" as you put it, have entered into marriage?
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Well I'm married to my wife seeing as I'm old and settled now.
Some of the women I fucked are married to other people now,
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IIRC, the first robot to take care of elderly (by making them feel better) was a cute little white furred seal pup. Dogs and cats can do it too. So that's not an argument for a humanoid robot. It *is* an argument for a robot that at least *looks* cuddly.
OTOH, would a robot dog be trusted if it tried to give the medicine? No hands, so all it could do would be spit it out.
For general purpose use, I think the humanoid factor is better, but probably best to stay on the far side of uncanny valley. Two spe
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Slashdot loves the idea of a fictional Data from Star Trek.
Slashdot hates the idea of a real Data from Star Trek, as is evidenced by any robotics/AI article.
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The character of Data on Star Trek was something of an homage to the Asimov series of books and short stories on the hazards of humanoid robots. They went so far in referencing Asimov to include that Data (and other humanoid robots) having a "positronic brain" as the main processing core.
I'm seeing three obstacles to a humanoid robot.
First is producing the materials, motors, and so on for convincing and durable human form and movement. I can see that developing independent of robotics as a matter of devel
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Open doors?
Half the doors where I work already open automatically. The other half are easily openable non-robotically.
Move around in a room full of furniture?
To do what? If the room is already full of furniture, does it really have room for a humanoid robot, i.e. another piece of furniture?
Grasp objects designed for human hands?
To do what?
Look at displays placed at human head-height?
To do what?
Obviously, a humanoid form will be most practical.
Explanation needed.
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I notice you couldn't answer the questions. The people pushing this can't either, otherwise they would have customers and a product.
The sci-fi story they've sold you on falls apart at the slightest interrogation. That's why you refuse to answer the questions.
It's big business these days. This week I read a missive from the richest man in the world, written to justify the largest CEO pay package in history, and this - this humanoid robot fantasy - is what he was selling. Many rich and powerful investors have
Re: As for the "why"? (Score:2)
However, there are other use cases. First, any robot that needs to interact in flexible ways in the human world. Open doors? Move around in a room full of furniture? Grasp objects designed for human hands? Look at displays placed at human head-height? Obviously, a humanoid form will be most practical.
Obviously, a feline form with a prehensile tail, human hands where its ears would be, and a telescoping neck extension would be most practical given those requirements.
You assume way too much, like a humanoid form comes with the ability to model a human mind, infer why furniture was placed the way it was and wether to move it, if so how and where to, or to clamber over or around it. Our form isn't really specialized for much, it's our mind that sets us apart. If you had THAT, there's so much more potential
Not taking anyone seriously now (Score:1)
You guys got boomerism and ole timers disease because the applications for humanoid robots are extremely limited and this would have once been the first place I'd expect to hear about it,
Maybe you guys picked up brainworms in thailand?
Was it all the shitty drugs we made off BBS textfiles? Too much cough syrup? Too much bananadine? Nutmeg?
Perhaps the pleasant smells that emanted from 80s electronics?
Was it the Seattle 100s that our bosses duped us into doing before we knew better?
What's happening to us?
Re: (Score:2)
The argument about usuform robots vs. humanoid robots goes back to at least the 1940's. We've *got* usuform robots, Humanoid robots are still works in progress (if you don't count things like the robot receptionist that built into the desk...mix that with a vocal chatbot and there are some jobs it could do. If I read right the one on display at the latest show in China didn't need to be built into the desk, and had a full humanoid body...attractive female, but clearly artificial, unlike the earlier one
Re: (Score:2)
I think there are uses for humanoid robots but it'll be mostly human interaction and entertainment. Advances in technology will be things like acrobatics and wangs that can pee on you and not the drop-in replacements for human laborers that a lot of MBA-brained retards seem to have no shame fantasizing about in public.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, it will be largely human interaction, and action in environments designed for humans. But that's NOT a small use case.
Maybe they can replace human politicians (Score:2)
not close (Score:2)
Ok, there has been a lot of progress in mobile robots that are not on wheels. It's likely that their dynamics and smoothness will improve. What is still far far away is reliable perception, including visual and haptic.
batteries (Score:5, Insightful)
For quite some time the only thing we need for a humanoid robot is farbetter batteries.
Large Language Models currently good enough to fool idiots into thinking they are Artificially Intelligent. We have the physical motors capable of making a robot arm and legs move at low strength levels. We have cameras and microphones. We have complex motion sensors that can tell the robot when it is about to fall down. We have software to unite everything.
The main things we are missing is good touch sensors so they know when they are holding something tightly enough but not crushing it, and a battery capable of lasting more than a couple of minutes while running all of these electricity intensive stuff.
When they talk about other problems, they usually mean "well sure we can do that already, but our current methods drain the battery".
That is why immobile robots work well in factories. Also while wheeled robots do better than walking ones (wheels use much less battery and do not require things like balance sensors).
Note, this battery issue is also why most sci-fi things do not work. Can't have nanites take over the world if they run out of power at night. Can't make super powerful hand held laser weapons if they need to be plugged into a nuclear power plant.
THX-1138 got it right again (Score:3)
A few years ago I watched a TV interview of four robots, with their human developers sitting beside them. Three of the four robots were in the form of attractive women, all of the developers were in the form of early middle aged men. None of the developers chose to expand on the functional advantages having a hawt-babe robot.
Sex bots are next.... (Score:2)