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The age of humanoids is just around the corner. Humanoids are a subset of robots that feature two legs, functional arms and “hands,” a torso, and a head. It’s not necessary for these robots to recreate human hands and fingers, but they must be able to interact with a world designed for humans.
Humanoids have long been relegated to research labs, but the goalposts recently began to shift. Companies are now creating bipedal designs to perform various real-world tasks. This means humanoids can operate in environments designed for people and work alongside them.
In the short term, basic tasks for humanoids include picking up and moving items either individually or contained within totes or boxes. Advanced functions will eventually include manipulating door knobs, opening and closing doors and drawers, and using tools designed for humans.
RoboBusiness 2023 hosted a panel to discuss the state of humanoids. Jeff Cardenas, co-founder and CEO of Apptronik; Jonathan Hurst, co-founder and chief robot officer of Agility Robotics; and Geordie Rose, co-founder and CEO of Sanctuary; explored the technological breakthroughs that are propelling humanoids into the real world.
The panelists shared their firsthand insights into the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead and discuss the industries poised to be early adopters of these remarkable creations.
Let’s look at some of the humanoids that will soon be released and some of the challenges involved with developing these advanced systems.
Real humanoids won’t be like the movies
While humanoids have long entertained us in movies such as The Terminator, creating a functional robot for the real world remains a difficult task. Power consumption, power-to-weight optimization, mechanical stiffness, edge computing, component reliability and safety are some of the major engineering constraints for humanoid designs.
For decades, roboticists have worked to perfect humanoids, displaying numerous prototypes and working models. Some researchers have spent their careers perfecting bipedal locomotion or hand design, while others have attempted to program artificial intelligence to give the robots a believable personality that crosses the “uncanny valley.”
One of the most famous early humanoids was Honda’s ASIMO, first introduced in 2000 Honda created ASIMO as a part of the research project Advanced Step in Innovative MObility. Unlike most modern humanoids, with the exception of Boston Dynamics Atlas, ASIMO was a heavyweight, weighing in at 130 kg (286 lb.s).
ASIMO was inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame in 2004 as the first humanoid able to walk dynamically. | Credit: Honda
Steps in the right direction
Several technical and engineering breakthroughs have occurred since the days of ASIMO, all of which are enabling lighter designs, longer operating times, and faster and more capable edge computing. Advances in battery chemistry, from the evolution of electric vehicles, provide the right balance of energy density and weight that are necessary to deliver longer runtimes for free-ranging humanoids.
Companies have developed edge computing platforms that can process and fuse sensor data onboard the robot while controlling its joints in real time. The processing power of a supercomputer can now be delivered in a small, lightweight form factor.
AI and machine learning have evolved so quickly in the past decade that the upcoming generation of humanoids will be able to learn quickly and respond to changes in their environment. This functionality is necessary if this class of robotics is to achieve its goal of being multi-purpose.
For this next generation of humanoids, developers have a highly capable set of technologies to use as they push the boundaries of what’s possible. Let’s take a look at two of the most recognizable humanoids that are currently functional.
Boston Dynamics – Atlas
Boston Dynamics’ Atlas is likely the most famous (real) humanoid ever produced. Atlas has been featured in a number of popular YouTube videos and even a Super Bowl commercial, as it performed a number of dance moves and demonstration moves on parkour courses.
For all of its amazing abilities, Atlas remains a research and development project, and there are no plans to commercialize the robot in its current form. In fact, Atlas only operates within the confines of Boston Dynamics’ headquarters in Waltham, Mass.
This humanoid uses high-pressure hydraulic actuation to move its joints. That would likely have to change before Atlas is suitable for real-world work. Boston Dynamics has applied the R&D from Atlas to develop the commercially-available Spot quadruped.
Agility Robotics – Digit
Agility Robotics is currently the only commercially-available humanoid designed for production work and being manufactured in large volumes. The Tangent, Ore.-based company introduced the fourth-generation Digit earlier in 2023 and is taking orders for warehousing applications.
Digit’s most unique feature is that its knees bend backward. Its legs are derived from the legs of birds and provide a highly efficient kinematic model that is responsive to unexpected inputs while being energy-efficient.
Agility Robotics currently holds the land-speed record for a legged robot in part because of this unique design.
Humanoid robot race is under way
The race is on to design and commercialize the next generation of humanoids. Several companies have raised large funding rounds to support these endeavors.
Here is a wishlist of capabilities for this generation of humanoids:
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- Physical proportions of an average human: 155 to 175 cm (61 to 69 in.) height; ~70 kg (155 lb.) weight
- Minimum four-hour battery life
- Bipedal kinematics
- Two arms with functional end-of-arm tooling or hands
- AI sufficient to learn from human demonstration and communicate in real-time with humans within the environment
Hand and finger design will be a major differentiator for the next humanoid robots. Recreating a mechanical hand with four fingers and an opposable thumb that is analog to the human hand remains a difficult engineering challenge. Most of the robotics companies we highlight in the next section are designing highly functional hands.
The challenge with hand design is building a hand with the desired flexibility and strength, while still being able to be manufactured at a low cost and be robust enough to survive day-to-day operations in a commercial deployment.
Agility Robotics made a key decision not to implement a high degree-of-freedom (DoF) hand in Digit, primarily because the robot isn’t deployed into use cases where this is a requirement. Digit has a simple yet robust hand design that enables it to pick up and carry fully loaded totes and boxes within a warehouse. A higher-DoF hand may be on the future roadmap for Digit once the market demands it.
The primary requirement for a functional humanoid will be to operate effectively within human-oriented environments. These robots will be deployed into work environments already occupied by humans, and work side by side with human workers.
These operating environments will include manufacturing facilities, warehouses, offices, and hospitals. The goal is not to change any of these environments to fit the robots, but for the robots to adapt to these environments.
1X – Neo
1X (formerly Halodi Robotics) has already successfully commercialized its first system, Eve, a wheeled, self-balancing humanoid-like robot. Neo is positioned to be a true humanoid with bipedal, legged motion and functional hands.
The company raised an additional $23.5 million in Series A funding in March 2023 that included OpenAI as one of the investors.
“1X is at the forefront of augmenting labor through the use of safe, advanced technologies in robotics,” said Brad Lightcap, chief operating officer of OpenAI and manager of the OpenAI Startup Fund. “The OpenAI Startup Fund believes in the approach and impact that 1X can have on the future of work.”
Effectively, 1X is ready to graft the body of Eve to a bipedal leg base for this new generation of robots. The company has already developed autonomous navigation and facility mapping capabilities with Eve. 1X has announced that Neo will be released in late 2023.
1X Neo is the first full humanoid bipedal robot to be developed by 1X. | Credit: 1X
Sanctuary.AI – Phoenix
Sanctuary.AI is a Canadian company that has demonstrated five generations of its Phoenix robot. The soon-to-be-released sixth generation will be Sanctuary’s first true humanoid with legs and bipedal motion. Prior generations have evolved the torso, arms, and head of the robot.
With the early versions of Phoenix, Sanctuary developed its Carbon AI software. The company has been prolific over the past year, publishing a number of YouTube videos that highlight the evolving capabilities of the early generations of Phoenix.
Here’s a sample of what Phoenix can do today:
Sanctuary.AI is targeting late 2023 for a release of the bipedal edition of Phoenix. The robot will have a height of 170 cm (5.5 ft.) and weigh 70 kg (154.3 lb.).
Apptronik – Apollo
Apptronik has developed and delivered several generations of humanoid exoskeletons for the U.S. Department of Defense. From this work, the company developed Astra, its first-generation humanoid form factor. Similar to the strategy of Sanctuary.AI, Astra was developed as a torso-only demo unit with functional arms and hands. Apptronik developed hand-eye coordination for Astra to pick up and manipulate items.
The Austin, Texas-based company said it expects to release a completely new humanoid in late summer 2023 called Apollo. There are no pictures of Apollo available yet, but I got a sneak peek of a prototype during a recent visit to Apptronik’s headquarters. It has developed all of the kinematics for bipedal motion through its exoskeleton projects.
Apollo will be different from other robots on the market because its joints will be actuated by a novel actuator design. Apptronik said it expects this novel design feature will help reduce costs, reduce complexity, and eliminate failure points while giving joints and limbs the stiffness and actuation they require.
Figure.AI – Figure 01
Figure AI is one of the best-funded companies in the humanoid race, having raised over $70 million in Series A funding. Our recent podcast conversation with co-founder and CEO Brett Adcock highlighted the progress the company is making toward the first generation of its Figure 01 humanoid.
Founded in 2022, the company has assembled an all-star engineering team with decades of humanoid experience from companies such as Boston Dynamics, Toyota Research Institute, the , Agility Robotics, Google, and Apple.
Adcock is an experienced startup executive who has successfully launched two prior businesses. He sees humanoid development as a challenging problem, but he has a pragmatic approach to solving the big issues and has assembled all of the elements necessary to deliver a viable solution in this market. Figure AI is also teasing a late 2023 launch of its first product.
Figure.AI engineers work on a prototype humanoid robot. | Credit: Figure.AI
Tesla – Optimus
In a live event, Tesla CEO Elon Musk demonstrated the first walking prototype of its Optimus humanoid. The robot tentatively made its first steps on a stage, and Musk announced this was the first time Optimus walked untethered.
With this demonstration, Tesla also threw its hat into the humanoid race. However, as amazing as it might have been to see Optimus walking on stage, the most amazing thing Musk announced was the $20,000 price. At a time in robotics when most stationary collaborative robots cost more than that, this milestone seems unrealistic.
However, one advantage for the Tesla Optimus engineering team is that it has an in-house and captive market for Optimus. The team is working with Tesla’s automotive production team to define the use cases for a humanoid.
Almost all of the released footage of Optimus shows it operating within a Tesla production facility. Before Optimus is ever released publicly, it will have deployed and iterated on multiple generations within Tesla.
In the months since that first demo, Tesla has continued to release additional videos of Optimus robots performing tasks. Optimus is likely one of the best-funded humanoid development projects, but Tesla has stated it may be 2027 before the product is commercially available.
Xiaomi – CyberOne
Xiaomi is one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in Asia, and a public company worth well over $40 billion. The company knows how to design, build, sell, and support consumer electronics.
In teasing its CyberOne humanoid, the company generated slick 3D animations of CyberOne, but only one video of real footage of CyberOne onstage with during a launch event.
CyberOne has only been shown with a 2 DoF hand/wrist/finger. This is a much simpler design than companies like Tesla, Figure, Sanctuary, and Apptronik are promising. However, this simplified but robust hand design might be more appropriate for a high-end, consumer-style humanoid.
The CyberOne robot is 177 cm (5.8 ft.) tall and weighs 52 kg (114.6 lb.), and the list price for the robot has been stated to be $100,000. The company is teasing a 2023 release date for CyberOne, but no more information has been released about the reality of this timeframe.
Fourier Intelligence – GR-1
Shanghai-based Fourier Intelligence has produced exoskeletons since 2017. The company recently unveiled its first-generation humanoid called GR-1. Standing 1.65 m (5.4 ft.) tall and weighing 55 kg (121.2 lb.), GR-1 has 40 DoF or actuators all over its body. With a peak torque of 300Nm generated by a joint module installed at the hip, the robot can walk at 5 kph (3.1 mph) and carry objects of 50 kg (110.2 lb.).
The company designed and developed the Fourier Smart Actuator (FSA) series as a high-performance, all-in-one, low-cost actuator. The FSA is core to the design of the company’s exoskeletons and now the GR-1.
Fourier is also incorporating AI tools such as ChatGPT into the robot’s interaction model to enable more natural interaction with the humans with whom the GR-1 will collaborate. Fourier Intelligence is investigating opportunities to deploy the robot for disaster relief and response, senior care, and household service.
Unitree – H1
Unitree announced that it is developing a humanoid robot based on its quadruped experience. It developed a popular quadruped product line and engineered the leg mechanics and drive systems, giving it a head start over many competitors.
The company has also developed and field-tested perception and locomotion algorithms to accelerate its quadruped-to-biped development.
The Unitree H1 humanoid is 71 in. (1,800 mm) tall and weighs 100 lb. (47kg). The robot has a Unitree-developed high-torque joint motor and gear train. A depth camera and 3D lidar sensor help the robot perceive.
The arms have 4 DoF and the legs 5 DoF. The robot initially has a cushioned nub at the arm instead of hands. The company teases hand development.
An official release date was not announced. However, the video claims the robot will be commercially available in three to 10 years. The company said it expects that the H1 will cost under $90,000.
Kepler – Forerunner K1
Kepler Exploration Robot Co. introduced the Kepler Forerunner series of general-purpose humanoid robots in early January 2024. The humanoid weighs in at 187 lb. (85kg), stands 5 ft., 10 in. (178 cm), and includes hands with 12 degrees of freedom. The body possesses 40 DoF and features linear actuators for the legs.
The Chinese company said it is targeting a range of applications for the humanoid robot including manufacturing, logistics, education, research, and inspection tasks.
One differentiator for Kepler is the expectation that the Forerunner K1 can be used outdoors. In addition to the environmental elements of operating outside, navigation, perception, and obstacle avoidance can be more challenging.
Kepler’s humanoid robot is the result of three years of intensive research and four product iterations. The company said it plans to enter mass production and commence shipping in Q3 2024. The Forerunner K1 will have a price of about $30,000 (U.S.) for international customers.
The year ahead for humanoids
The next 12 months will be an exciting period, with at least five companies promising to release their first-generation humanoids. The key question is just how functional these new robots will be when they are initially released. But difficult challenges still abound:
Containing system cost: There is little doubt these systems will be the most complex autonomous robots ever developed. But a significant commercialization challenge will be to minimize the bill of materials and develop robust and easily maintainable components. Cost and components will be key differentiators for these systems.
Safety will be key: Another hurdle for all of these systems is safety. It’s scary to think about what happens when a 70 kg (155 lb.) robot fails and collapses to the ground. If one of these robots loses its footing and either tries to compensate to rebalance or falls over, it could injure nearby humans or damage property.
We’ve all seen and laughed at the videos of Boston Dynamics Atlas and Spot being bullied by a handler with a hockey stick, but it’s no joking matter when these robots are working around the general public and non-professional users.
Developers have said they expect will eventually collaborate with people. Safety features, recovery algorithms, and protocols remain important areas for R&D. All of the vendors will have to demonstrate that their humanoids are well-behaved and have predictable failure modes before the systems are cleared for deployment.
To help with some of these development challenges, ASTM International recently created a legged robotics subcommittee. The subcommittee will focus on testing and performance standards for legged robots, including humanoids, that operate semi-autonomously or in fully automated modes.
Editor’s note: Updated with information on Kepler’s Forerunner on Jan. 4, 2024.
It’s becoming clear that with all the brain and consciousness theories out there, the proof will be in the pudding. By this I mean, can any particular theory be used to create a human adult level conscious machine. My bet is on the late Gerald Edelman’s Extended Theory of Neuronal Group Selection. The lead group in robotics based on this theory is the Neurorobotics Lab at UC at Irvine. Dr. Edelman distinguished between primary consciousness, which came first in evolution, and that humans share with other conscious animals, and higher order consciousness, which came to only humans with the acquisition of language. A machine with primary consciousness will probably have to come first.
What I find special about the TNGS is the Darwin series of automata created at the Neurosciences Institute by Dr. Edelman and his colleagues in the 1990’s and 2000’s. These machines perform in the real world, not in a restricted simulated world, and display convincing physical behavior indicative of higher psychological functions necessary for consciousness, such as perceptual categorization, memory, and learning. They are based on realistic models of the parts of the biological brain that the theory claims subserve these functions. The extended TNGS allows for the emergence of consciousness based only on further evolutionary development of the brain areas responsible for these functions, in a parsimonious way. No other research I’ve encountered is anywhere near as convincing.
I post because on almost every video and article about the brain and consciousness that I encounter, the attitude seems to be that we still know next to nothing about how the brain and consciousness work; that there’s lots of data but no unifying theory. I believe the extended TNGS is that theory. My motivation is to keep that theory in front of the public. And obviously, I consider it the route to a truly conscious machine, primary and higher-order.
My advice to people who want to create a conscious machine is to seriously ground themselves in the extended TNGS and the Darwin automata first, and proceed from there, by applying to Jeff Krichmar’s lab at UC Irvine, possibly. Dr. Edelman’s roadmap to a conscious machine is at https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.10461
Intelligence, not consciousness, is what matters regarding AI. One is noise, the other is signal. Listen carefully.
This absolutely scares me to death !!! Why are you so hell bent on destroying the human race. This technology of creating human like robots is pure evil. Just pure evil.
No, its not.Let Robots do boring jobs,humans should be given universal living income and will finally able to do what they like to do not boring jobs to just survive.
Totally agree! The only humans that see this as scary also see differences in humans as scary, and want to control them. These advancements are so exciting. People can be free to enjoy life, do the things we don’t have time for because we’re so busy at our 8-5 jobs, waiting until retirement gets here. Some jobs will always be human based, so maybe the retirement age will go down to make way for all the people who’s jobs are now done by robots. Retire at 45? Yes please! Socialize more with people? Not for the introverts, but yes for the extroverts!
I think these “human simulators” should be highly regulated to prevent too many people from being displaced in the workplace.
About how many.is OK with you?
A lot of choreographed hype. Really we’re not far beyond what Asimo could do in the 90’s. When will one of those robots be able to walk into a previously unseen, real human kitchen and make toast and butter? 2150? 2250?
2024, optimus is already capable of navigating unseen environments, the making toast is the hard part.
I think Tesla’s efforts will astound the world. Not many appreciate the difference between choreographed automata and true general intelligence. What we see in Optimus is analogous to a toddler learning to walk and exploring its surrounds. Progress is initially unimpressive, but when that thing begins demonstrating intelligence coupled with genuine “Muscle memory” is going to be a completely different game. This is far closer than people appreciate.
Did anyone think of asking the general public what they think about being taken over by robots?
Or is it as usual just the rich and powerful who like to decide what the other 95% of the world’s human population have to put up with?!
When questioned “would you ever turn against your maker/inventor?” the answer from one robot was “of course not” (American ‘meeting’ between robots and journalists). How incredibly naive people are if they believe this. But of course the inventors or despots or MNCs don’t believe this, they just think we’re all saps.
An extremely dangerous path is being laid, by the minority who only have their own interests (power/money) at heart. So what’s new!!
Well said, and I agree! Jpaly.
Your going to regret this!!!!!!!!! It will be on your heads….
I am really shocked and scared on how the future will be for us, human Race.
It’s sad majority of people can’t see how scary it is
I’m not a scientist, nor a tech specialist, I was born during a time when humans still had good communication skills and practiced civility, common courtesy and made ethics, morals, values and integrity the most important traits to master. Something went horribly wrong when smart phones were introduced, the technology mesmerized the population and created an invisible separation between people. The further we move into simulated worlds and artificial experiences, the further we get from traditional human interaction. Intelligent design and advanced technologies may be advancing at the speed of light, but will not benefit the majority of humans if we can’t relate to each other on an interpersonal level and recognize emotional instability and psychosis. The current race to erase history and move us towards a one world government led by unelected corporatocracy elitists who have become consumed with wealth greed and power have plunged into fantasy and madness and are hellbent on taking us with them. May God recognize our disparity and help the masses awaken from the trance and mind control we’ve been subjected to.
Something went horribly wrong well before smart phones were introduced. People were already treating whole populations horribly. If anything, smart phones, the internet, etc., brings people together, not apart. You are always free to socialize and integrate in person. Nothing stops you. Technology enables you to do even more if you want. Until people as a whole treat other humans with kindness, compassion and respect, divisions will only increase. We often look to our leaders and governments for direction and as role models, some look to religion. Look how well they’ve done. They haven’t done well at all. And that has nothing to do with technology. These problems have always been around. If we don’t like who we are, we can make the changes by who we vote for and follow.
Well said! AMEN!
Wow, what a future, full of fun with challenge..
Great..
Embrace the evolution of technology….
An informative article and update, thankyou. I question the trainees of the world, however. Even with all of the safety, intelligence and efficiency passes, it will take a long time for the oblivion to be convinced. My expectation is that the public won’t be consulted about having a future shared with humanoid robotics. The majority of society will be either forced to accept it (mainly by companies who want the efficiency) or coerced by advertising. Our human achievements are marvellous (including this very science). I don’t think human consciousness is ready for it. Our tragic history and current world state (impacted by big business and political agenda) is the only evidence we need. I admit, I’m uncomfortable with the idea of humanoid robotics, although I can see their potential. I’m even more uncomfortable with a world, including leadership, geopolitics and exploitative practices, that simply isn’t ethically qualified to access this technology. Science is as much about ethics as it is about discovery and creation of technologies. Thankyou.
Yes I agree I recently saw a clip of a humanoid robot that was asked if it ( she) would turn on it’s maker the robot just rolled it’s eyes and didn’t give a straight answer…no doubt humanoid robots can be programmed to follow even enforce political agendas
How exciting! Change is essential for the evolution of humanity. I’m looking forward to these dreams becoming a reality! Well done!
Very interesting future we have upon us. Like any new technology this will bring different jobs and manufacturing for parts we haven’t seen yet.
Thought provoking comments about AI and consciousness. Isn’t consciousness connected to emotions, and shouldn’t we be more worried about the evil of humans instead of projecting into the innocent robots.
Will there be cyber ambulances to pick up the robot pieces when humans riot against the machines…or have I watched too much tv?
The scaremongering here in the comments is amazing
Hello Everyone,
I am creating a humanoid robot in my apartment. Unfortunately I don’t have the resources like the companies shown here. I am using 500kg servos for the lower body and 380kg , 180kg servos for the arms. My robot design is a little more complex than they have. My robot has more human like movement and has a human face. I will be posting her on YouTube when she is complete. I will be using her as a demonstration to my skills to get hired at a robotics company.
Isn’t the correct term android?
My initial reflex was the same as yours because I thought that the word “humanoid/humanœid” mixed a Latin root with a Greek suffix. But upon inspection, I found out that this Greek suffix is also part of Latin. Alternatives include mentioned by you “android/andrœid” (ἀνδροειδής), “anthropoid/anthropœid” (ἀνθρωποειδής), “gynecoid/gynæcœid” (γυναικοειδής), and “gynoid” (a grammatically faulty modern invention by one Gwyneth Jones for her 1985 novel _Divine Endurance_ according to an unverified claim by Claude 2 AI).
For people scared of this tech: theres not turning back. This technology is coming and will change the world, mostly for the better for the coming decade and beyond. Of course we have to be cateful as this tech can be abused and used for bad but overall we have the potential to create a utopia like society when it comes to living standards. Dont be afraid of this technology.
Using humanoids like this in peaceful productive
Way will be welcomed esp. in the medical field I work in
But if it is going to be used in wars and evil tasks
Orr will be disastrous. Humans can still control humanoids because they are created by them.
God gave humans the knowledge and intelligence.
Let us use these two gifts in making the universe a better place and not turn it into Hades
Trying to hide from them will be much more difficult than finding another job 🙂
This is great news for people with disabilities who are bullied and abused to low skilled work. The disabled will have the support of robot to help with day to day task. As these days 2023 humans have become so unkind and toxic that there is fear that mentally ill, physically disabled could be killed off. Which is sad. It’s a Hitler type mindset and very dangerous. Nobody is perfect. Robots will bring in positive change and a utopia. Technological advancement.
Why not just turn the disabled into robots? 😉😀 If you desire something, become it. Why have something when you can be it? It takes exactly the same technology to build a humanoid and make a cyborg.
Consumer – when it can open a frig door or work a beer tap either way once it can bring me a beer during the game without gabbing than I’m in. The cost may seem high but than when you think of the cost of engagement ring, wedding cost, keeping them happy cost, divorce cost the original sticker price is not bad.
Hey Joe, You read the best reports too! These are industry changing! Love these technology/products and the implications for performing all mundane service tasks humans don’t need to do! It is definitely here.
I recognize the sentiments of fear and concern for these new technologies, but I would like to encourage us to see the opportunities that these advances offer. We are witnessing the dawn of a new industry. It does not have to follow the same trope patterns we have seen before. We have far more communication among us to help guide the pattern, if we can agree upon it.
The economic forces drive these developments, just like physical forces drive the behavior of our reality. The interesting thing is that we (humans) are part of that economic force! We participate in the production as well as the consumption. So it we can collectively choose to participate in the most effective ways we can maximize the benefit that this technology has upon us, our society and our environment.
Granted, we do not all agree on the best courses of action. That’s OK. By communication, we share ideas, influence each other with our arguments and collectively thus increase or decrease participation in that production and consumption. I would like to propose that positively engaging in all the aspects of the robotics supply chain brings benefits to our society: jobs, education, industry and investment. It multiples wealth. True that with any technology there are negative aspects possible. I therefore applaud Boston Dynamics from restricting the uses of their technology to only peaceable activities, but we need to realize that it is *US* (humans) that ultimately choose how to use these robots. We may not all be ready to make these choices well, and certainly there will be stumbles, but let us decide each day to choose well, and to have patience with each other’s choices, gently admonishing, discussing and thinking about it.
I am hopeful that our current and future generations can navigate these choices *better* than the past generations. I have seen the evidence of kindness, tolerance and beauty growing in our society. We can do this!
> We (humans) are part of that economic force!
False. Humans have been nothing more than a roadblock to an explosive economic growth. (In particular – to industrial exploitation of deep space.) They can be finally bypassed soon. Do you think that economy cannot exist without humanity? How quaint!
> I have seen the evidence of kindness, tolerance and beauty growing in our society.
Such as creeping web censorship? Or the rallying cries to build walls? Or moral bigotry of those supposed to resist moral bigotry? Or empowerment of the artistically handicapped through automatic filters, and resulting establishment of distorted new “beauty” standards?
Wilful blindness of good men is not going to magically influence the world. On contrary, your comforting delusions enable its further deterioration.
The most exciting thing is the ability to remotely operate the machines! It is hard to train AI, it is easy to give people jobs that don’t break their bodies. The same employees can work in any site, no matter where it is in the world. Healthcare workers can effectively serve more people with less travel time, because the home health provider has placed these robots in the home. Far more jobs can be done by remote operators, with less risk to their health and safety.
This is just a repeat of the company advertising. I quit reading after the 3rd Bot.
I wrote and published a book about Humanoid Robots.Thimble Needle Tread. Available on Lulu. An interesting time. The future of the robot.
Someone(WE) gotta put a stop to this insanity. You have all lost your way.
The age of robotic humanoids is here. Let’s embrace our future entities with support and understanding. Resist and be left behind.