A headline from earlier this week was 'Google DeepMind Hires Former CTO of Boston Dynamics as the Company Pushes Deeper Into Robotics'. Google once owned Boston Dynamics and sold it as they didn't think it had anything to sell. I bet they regret that now. Even its AI training data would have made it worth retaining. The things you don't see when you take the short-term view.
I wonder if that's the same with this warning from China's National Development and Reform Commission. Yes, humanoid robotics are at their gold rush stage, but that's because people know the future probably means billions of these robots, and trillions of profit building them. At the turn of the 20th century, the nascent automobile and aerospace industries had hundreds of small firms all over the world operating out of workshops. Robotics looks like it's at the same stage.
More than 150 humanoid robotics companies are operating in China, and the country's leading economic planning agency is warning that an investment bubble could be forming, as there are few proven use cases for the robots.
byu/lughnasadh inFuturology
7 Comments
Time for that American marketing machine to ramp up!
I really don’t understand the obsession with making humanoid robots rather than robots that are functional and serve a purpose. People could really use more help keeping the house clean and dinner cooked, maybe they should figure that out first.Â
sometimes I feel like the current progression of robotics and AI is fueled by a bunch of people who grew up on sci fi and never questioned whether or not what they saw was actually a logical or necessary next step for technology. of course we need humanoid robots, haven’t you seen i robot? the jetsons? the robots will be shaped like people and will walk around your house doing chores.
Thank God! We need a new bubble, this whole AI thing is getting old. /s
Imagine how many add-ons they will sell with robots in the future. The laundry addon, the cleaning adddon, the fucking… Oh wait.
I would love a robot that can follow me when I shop and move around the world that’s a glorified caddy. Carry my shit!
Humanoid robots can climb stairs and access the areas I go. If it’s a wagon bot or has wheels then I gotta worry about it getting stuck!
But I think a dog robot with a barrel on it would be fine too
I doubt the CCP will take drastic measures to dampen its lead in humanoid robots. Most likely, we’ll see a parallel approach to EVs: standardization around safety concerns and waiting for the winners to emerge.