Comment by torginus
23 days ago
I'm also wondering why people are so enamored with these humanoid robot - what they've accomplished is impressive, but from the perspective of replacing humans, I'm sure we are many years away from the versatility required to replace skilled tradespeople.
A humanoid robot shambling along a factory floor to pick up a plastic cover and deposit it onto a shelf does not look like a trillion dollar industry. I'm sure there are much more straightforward ways of accomplishing the same stuff.
Imo the biggest advantage of reproducing humanoid forms, is that then the robot can be teleoperated with full body harnesses that track the human operator. One such system I like really much, is what the Japanese use for fixing overhead power wires - it looks like a humanoid robot torso mated to a mobile crane.
Altough the technology behind that could be done in the 80s, with electromechanical analog controls.
Isaac Asimov answered that - the world is already built for humans so if robots are going to be generally useful replacing and operating alongside humans, they'll have to be human-shaped.
It’s a benchmark that people can understand. And of course humans evolved along with our environments. There are many places where a wheeled contraption can’t go without clearing a path for itself.
Likewise for intelligence. Is human-style intelligence the best benchmark for intelligent machines?
Most factories, including the one I work in, are already designed for wheeled robots, in a sense, because anything heavier than a certain amount is moved around on wheeled carts.