I’ve seen this movie and it doesn’t end well.
Why do people keep thinking robots in factories should imitate our physique? Especially legs as opposed to wheels?
Stairs
Ever been to a factory?
because the modern world is built around people shaped like people. all the tools and workspaces and interfaces already optimized for it. and that keeps it safe for prople to co-exist. if we start building the world around some otherness, then humans are locked out and obsolete.
It is very difficult to make a robotic hand that can operate a screwdriver. If the robot only ever needs to perform one task on an assembly line, just build it with the tools as part of it. Of course, some modularity helps to retool the plant for another product but there are very few cases where a robot needs the versatility of the human hand (maybe bomb defusal?) or body.
yes we have millions of tethered robotic arms in use today with tools as hands. but once an untethered humanoid robot is available on the market with robotic hands, the use cases are infinite.
I don’t think it’s productive to try replicating the human hand accurately enough to do most manual tasks, especially with very different technology like servos, actuators and pneumatics. If we ever get there, the resulting product will be very expensive and still less capable than purpose-built robots. Why buy a $1M humanoid robot that can split logs with your existing $20 axe when fully automated splitters cost tens of thousands?
