The Future of Humanoids
Robots that look like humans are now being created at some of the biggest companies, but why?
We have all probably seen many YouTube videos (Optimus — Gen 2) about humanoid robots doing parkour or tasks.
In a recent video released by Tesla, they featured a new generation of their robots called Optimus — Gen 2. Now, it might seem unusual for a car company to create robots, but Tesla is actually a big robotics company, and Elon Musk stated this in a speech two years ago on AI day, a event Tesla helds.
The thing is, what Tesla is doing with this idea is that they are taking their software from self-driving cars, and putting it into robots. Except, with it being modified.
Tesla bots, along with Boston Dynamics Atlas Robots are all using Artificial Intelligence connected to cameras and sensors to understand how their robotic limbs and joints work. For this ability, they have neural connections in their head, or back for the Atlas robot, which allow them to do some simple tasks like us.
But why?
The main reason Tesla wants to create these humanoid robots are so they can do reparative, boring, and unsafe tasks for humans, and Boston Dynamics follows the same ideas.
But it is not just Boston Dynamics and Tesla who are creating these Humanoid robots for the same purposes. Along with Tesla and Boston Dynamics, Honda and NASA are creating humanoid robots too.
It makes sense that robots can replace some of our daily tasks, or go into dangerous places or do harmful jobs for us.
But why is it in human form?
We see many robots on a day to day basis, from vacuum cleaners to dishwashers. It would become complicated if a human looking robot was using a normal vacuum cleaner, but it becomes more functional when the vacuum itself becomes a robot.
Except, the thing with robots in the form of humans is that it allows for more accessibility. The thing is that with a robot on wheels, or tracks, don’t have the same level of functionality in the world. For example, it would be really hard for a robot with wheels to go a staircase.
Humans have built our world with the idea of humans in mind! We have built it where we have all the right mechanics to navigate it. So in order to create a robot which can help us in our human tasks, it is most functional for it to be in human form. This is so it can open doors (Source), or climb stairs, and work like us.
So what’s coming?
These humanoid robots are probably not got going to be in the market very soon. As many of the amazing tasks they can do, they are still far away from all of our childhood fantasies of robots being a part of our everyday lives.
This is because in order for humanoid robots to be really practical in our day to day lives, they need to become less technical and more understandave of our world.
One thing that sets us apart from AI and robots is that we understand the difference between doing tasks with still keeping ethics in mind, than just doing a task at no cost. So by less technical, I mean it should not do everything purely because it was tasked, but it should have the capabilities to make certain decisions. Such as when you tell it to clean the garage, and it cleans your garage but at the cost of throwing a precious vintage painting away.
While we still might be away, our robot filled future (Source) is not so distant. And the way we react to situations is how we will prevent a total terminator end of the world destruction in real life, or not.
KIDDING!
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Check out my resources used to research this article
🤖 Cleo Abram video used: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAgTgwak7ME
🤖Tesla video used: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpraXaw7dyc&t=33s
🤖Marques Brownlee video used: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk1oClYJE58
🤖Domain article used for image: https://www.domain.com.au/news/suck-it-up-australia-robovacuums-arent-as-great-as-theyre-cracked-up-to-be-790519/
🤖MathWorks article used for image: https://blogs.mathworks.com/headlines/2016/03/23/atlas-robot-marches-out-the-door-possibly-to-search-for-new-owner/
🤖 TechTalks article used for image: https://bdtechtalks.com/2021/08/23/boston-dynamics-atlas-robot-parkour/
