Where do you think humanoids will adapt more quickly? In a factory environment or at home?
I just read an article from TechCrunch about how Robotics company 1X has struck a deal to send up to 10,000 Neo humanoid robots – originally marketed for home use (but they want to focus on factory use in the future, although that was their original intention).
This made me think about several things:
Historically, robots have always been portrayed as devices that help with production.
Factories have more money to buy more units – it would make sense to start here.
From a safety perspective, it’s easier to test robots outside of homes, with families and pets, to minimise risk.
Adapting humanoids in homes can be more difficult due to the diversity of the environment, unpredictable human and animal behaviour, and space constraints.
Psychologically, people at home may be less patient with robot errors, but in industry, failures are a normal part of testing and iterating on technology.
Also, a lot of companies want to give humanoids a human form, but it honestly scares me. Is it better to be non-human or human-looking?
Is the current trend of focusing humanoids on households just a marketing strategy, or is it really expected that people at home will adapt to robots faster than factories?
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In my city, there are already plenty of tech products designed for household chores like sweeping, dishwashing, and laundry.
So, if a single robot could come home and handle all these tasks, I don’t think people would have much of an issue with it. Since specialized devices for each activity already exist, having a humanoid robot take over wouldn’t really be a big leap.
I also echo @konrad_sx's thoughts, they are likely to be adopted in factory environments more widely and households with higher income, elderly and disabled.
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@konrad_sx @rohanrecommends Let's see how the market will evolve. I watch this situation closely as want to know more about adoption and user behaviour (for me, the whole thing is still kinda scary) :D
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@d_ferencha So do you think there will be different segments, and each will be treated its own way, right?
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I agree that humanoids may adapt faster in factory environments (incl. warehouses, construction sites etc.). While most robots there probably always will have non-humanoid form, it's clear that a human-like form is optimal for a significant number of tasks.
At home, I think in the near future robots will be really useful only in special cases, e.g. for the elderly and disabled. But for these cases they may adapt fast also.
A likable form is certainly very important for adaption at home (not only there). I'd also clearly prefer a not-too-human design, looks scary or stupid. In any case, I'm really looking forward to developments here. Considering how many different designs for cars people came up with already, and the variation possibilities for humanoids should be much greater!
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@konrad_sx But how many people would be able to afford a humanoid for household purposes? Only those very rich. Then, as you said, only organisations where there are more people who can share one unit of humanoid (but this one unit has also its own capacity).
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@busmark_w_nika The 1X Neo is $499/month or $20,000 to buy https://www.1x.tech/order, Tesla Optimus will be $20,000 - $30,000. So comparable to an average car, not only to the very rich. Also, for the cases I talked about, health insurance may pay it in the future.
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@konrad_sx This will probably be for richer groups of people. I still know many people who do not have a car because they cannot afford one.
What about robots in SOHO? Would love to have this as an option :)
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@rickyguo Sounds like gold middle-option. The thing is: What pricing do you expect for them?
Thanks for replying@busmark_w_nika I guess that really depends and can be flexible. SOHO robots can be further divided into more branches, higher price for the all-rounder bots and lower price for the specific tasks targeted bots.
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@rickyguo I think we are still in the initial steps, so time will show us :)
I think robots have already existed in some form in both factories and homes from automated machines to handle the entire food production process to robo-vacs at home. The issue that seems to be holding us back is this obsession with creating these uncanny valley humanoid robots with human gait and characteristics. In reality, this has no value add in the home or the factory. If mobility is the issue, put it on wheels and add environmental obstruction detection and call it a day.
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@tiasabs Robots – do you mean devices like for cooking or so? These are with us for decades, but scientists, makers and researchers are trying to create something so perfect and so close to human that it is scary. There was also a discussion about whether AI will be implemented and fully control the robot.