I just don’t see the use case for the average person. Different forms would be better for things like cleaning. The article states this already, but wheeled forms with a gripper would be fine for many things.
I still see robots for more specialized or dangerous things: welding and hot work in hazardous or explosive environments, space station maintenance, graffiti cleanup on highways, shooting Russians in Ukraine, heavy lift work in logistics, service or maintenance work. Farming too, which always needs extra hands.
I guess the counterpoint is that human houses are designed for human-shaped things to move around in, and the ideal helper robot would be able to interact with doors, cabinets, stairs, appliances, and tools as well as a human can. And those things have all been optimized specifically around being used by a human. So, whether or not people would prefer a helper robot in humanoid form, it’s the path of least resistance in many ways.
That’s not to say there aren’t engineering solutions to that problem, just that it makes sense from a purely utilitarian perspective.
I just don’t see the use case for the average person. Different forms would be better for things like cleaning. The article states this already, but wheeled forms with a gripper would be fine for many things.
I still see robots for more specialized or dangerous things: welding and hot work in hazardous or explosive environments, space station maintenance, graffiti cleanup on highways, shooting Russians in Ukraine, heavy lift work in logistics, service or maintenance work. Farming too, which always needs extra hands.
I guess the counterpoint is that human houses are designed for human-shaped things to move around in, and the ideal helper robot would be able to interact with doors, cabinets, stairs, appliances, and tools as well as a human can. And those things have all been optimized specifically around being used by a human. So, whether or not people would prefer a helper robot in humanoid form, it’s the path of least resistance in many ways.
That’s not to say there aren’t engineering solutions to that problem, just that it makes sense from a purely utilitarian perspective.