Introduction to Humanoid Robots
Humanoid robots are designed to resemble and interact with humans, but do they live up to the hype? According to Rus and many others, the hype surrounding these robots doesn’t add up.
Limitations of Humanoid Robots
Humanoids "are mostly not intelligent," Rus said. She showed a video of herself speaking to an advanced humanoid that smoothly followed her instruction to pick up a watering can and water a nearby plant. However, when she asked it to "water" her friend, the robot did not consider that humans don’t need watering like plants and moved to douse the person. "These robots lack common sense," she said.
Physical Limitations
Pras Velagapudi, the chief technology officer of Agility Robotics, detailed physical limitations the company has to overcome. To be strong, a humanoid needs a lot of power and a big battery. The stronger you make it and the heavier it is, the less time it can run without charging, and the more you need to worry about safety. A robot like this is also complex to manufacture.
Impressive Demos vs. Practical Applications
Some impressive humanoid demos don’t overcome these core constraints as much as they display other impressive features: nimble robotic hands, for instance, or the ability to converse with people via a large language model. But these capabilities don’t necessarily translate well to the jobs that humanoids are supposed to be taking over. For example, it’s more useful to program a long list of detailed instructions for a robot to follow than to speak to it.
The Future of Humanoid Robots
This is not to say fleets of humanoids won’t ever join our workplaces, but rather that the adoption of the technology will likely be drawn out, industry-specific, and slow. The technology that succeeds in an isolated lab setting will appear very different from the one that gets commercially adopted at scale.
A Recent Example: Figure AI
Figure AI has raised a tremendous amount of investment for its humanoids, and founder Brett Adcock claimed that the company was the "most sought-after private stock in the secondary market." However, in April, Fortune published an article quoting a spokesperson from BMW, alleging that the pair’s partnership involves fewer robots at a smaller scale than Figure has implied. Adcock responded by posting on LinkedIn that "Figure’s litigation counsel will aggressively pursue all available legal remedies—including, but not limited to, defamation claims—to correct the publication’s blatant misstatements."
Conclusion
In conclusion, while humanoid robots may seem impressive, they still have a long way to go before they can be widely adopted. Their limitations, both physical and intellectual, must be addressed before they can be truly useful in various industries.
FAQs
Q: What are the main limitations of humanoid robots?
A: Humanoid robots lack common sense and have physical limitations, such as requiring a lot of power and a big battery, which can make them complex to manufacture and limit their runtime.
Q: Will humanoid robots be widely adopted in the near future?
A: The adoption of humanoid robots will likely be drawn out, industry-specific, and slow.
Q: What is Figure AI, and what is its claim to fame?
A: Figure AI is a company that has raised a significant amount of investment for its humanoids and claims to have partnered with BMW to use its robots in the automaker’s manufacturing process.
Q: What was the controversy surrounding Figure AI and BMW?
A: Fortune published an article alleging that Figure AI’s partnership with BMW involves fewer robots at a smaller scale than the company has implied, which led to Figure AI’s founder, Brett Adcock, threatening to pursue defamation claims.
