Yes obviously there are limitations i.e. stairs and uneven terrain but there are wheeled/tracked solutions for those too
Most of these robots will be used in factories that have very nice flat concrete floors
One simple example: getting in and out of a car. Another thing to consider is that a legged robot can tilt itself for balance while carrying heavy objects. To carry a similar weight with a wheeled robot you'll need a much wider wheel base.
And then of course, if you want to build robots that can be useful inside a house, then they need to be able to cope with stairs. There's also construction... At some point, you don't have elevators... Or just circulating between buildings out on the street where the pavement isn't great.
Of course that needs very smart systems that can co-ordinate but that's my point, there's an opportunity cost for everything, and I think that's better spent on AI and a multitude of other systems rather than a schoolboy sci-fi fantasy of bipedal robots
this feels like a flawed example to me. ~100 years on and all cars are starting to look the same.[1] Personal computers, after like 30 years, have mostly converged around something that's essentially a 3x5 touchscreen with cameras on both sides. Sure, there are laptops and PC's, work and semi trucks, but that's 3 form factors? meh. Manufacturing at scale is much more efficient, and form follows function, can't really escape either.
[1]https://windingroad.com/articles/features/why-do-all-new-car...
Have you not seen Boston Dynamics tilting wheeled robots that work very well? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iV_hB08Uns
I'm also not sure it's important that laundry and dishes get done at the exact same time - if it is, you should probably do 1 of those tasks yourself - especially since a robot would be able to stuff at night, etc, giving it more time to complete tasks
Also, GP mentions stairs, and adding wheel support to that. So not only do you want a half dozen robits rolling around your home, you'll also need to remodel your home to support it.
Or, of course, we could develop bipedal robots, which seems to have little downside as compared to wheeled robots.
While I don't care if everything gets done at once, I care that things are done right and not otherwise inconvenient for me. Maybe the best way to have robots that work slow and then apply a lot of then.
The important thing to note here is robots for many of the things I want do not exist. When they come we will see. Maybe is a a specialized robot, maybe it is more general purpose. That is irrelevant.
Why do you want a smart phone, instead of the telephone, contact book, camera, clock, alarm clock, radio, mail, credit card and so on?
There is a lot of room for special purpose tools to handle more than one purpose while not being fully general purpose. I'm suggesting we never have a need for full general purpose, but there is for sure room for robots that do more than one thing but don't do everything. I might want the robot that sets and clears my table after meals to also gather my dirty laundry and when clean bring it back - but offload the actual cleaning process for both to specialized robots.
1. Stairs. Roomba's can't vacuum stairs, so you still need to do those yourself.
2. Stairs, Roomba's can't traverse stairs, so you need one for each floor.
3. Doors. If you want the Roomba to vacuum the whole house, you have to have all the doors open for it.
4. Can't have anything on the floor, the Roomba will either get stuck or avoid it. But I shouldn't have to never leave a backpack on my floor if I want it vacuumed.
5. Corners. Roomba's can't vacuum in corners or in tight areas between furniture and walls. or any other weird geometry. ie: I have a wire shelf. Roomba doesn't fit under it but its easy to use a stick vacuum to get between the wires and to the floor.
And this is before we get to the limit on suction and capacity in that form factor.
You want to use the robot to inspect a tunnel in danger of collapse, or a factory that may be leaking a poisonous chemical out of a pipe.
And in such cases you very much want something that can navigate obstacles about as well as a human. You can't count on the area being devoid of rubble, and rebuilding a factory to make it wheeled robot friendly could be an enormously expensive and impractical proposition.
Now humanoids? We already designed everything for us. A good enough humanoid robot can go anywhere a person can, and manipulate anything a human was intended to touch.
I think human physiology is amazingly multi-purpose, but we don't need to compromise on balanced skills with robots. Every action can have a physiologically tailored robot to do it. Sure, I can see that I would want my personal butler bot to be humanoid, but I think for the vast majority of cases, humanoid is not the optimal solution.
But I also suppose that if I was going for wooing the general public, I would go humanoid for sure. People compare technology against science fiction, not actual practical considerations.
For rougher types of terrain, hexapod robots do great (not the spider-type ones - ones with three legs either side, that fully rotate in the vertical plane), or for that matter just use a tracked tank-type design.
I'd go out on a limb and say that we will NEVER have humanoid robots at home folding laundry, walking upstairs to put it away, or putting away the dishes in the kitchen. This is a 1960's sci-fi vision of the future, similar to that of flying cars. Any robot capable of fully navigating the human world will always be too expensive and unreliable as a home helper.
In a factory a stable wheeled robot is way more practical than a bipedal one. It doesn't need a humanoid head either - but I guess that makes for nice PR photos.
On the other hand, it'd be highly amusing if the future did involve humanoid robots out mowing the grass with a push mower, or getting into their car to drive to the grocery store.
I'm reminded of this Adam Savage video of BD's Spot pulling a rickshaw (23:00).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyaocKS3sfg
Maybe in the future the passenger will be a humanoid robot being taken to its laundry folding job?
Right now the hardest jobs to replace will be those of plumbers, electricians, carpenters, etc where they need to operate with fine motor skills in unique and challenging locations - no two ever being the same.
What if it is knocked over and needs to get back up?
What about Steep inclines? Stairs?
What if it needs to climb on to a different platform? A conveyer belt? A vehicle? A beam?
Even in a factory or warehouse setting wheels are useless for anything but the most ideal cases. And there are already countless robots successfully operating in that space. A general purpose robot is the holy grail, and legs are a requirement for that.
But the long term prospects of robots would be in your home, maybe going to the store for you, whatever. We see the limitations of wheeled robots with robot vacuums. They do a decent job but are severely limited trying to do its job in a place that was designed for a human. (On the flip side it can also get some places easier than a human would, so it's a bit of a trade off).
By focusing on mimicking humans, we end up being in the best situation for both of these. Factories can try them out with minimal changes to how they operate.
Plus, it seems like the biggest hurdle isn't really walking. It seems like we have gotten that one down fairly well (not perfect obviously) and the bigger issues seem to be hands, object recognition, and just "general" AI. Can it actually do anything with the hardware it has on its own.
Seeing how this one moves, it is human-ish, being bipedal, but it isn't mimicking human movement range.
I’m gonna pass.
One of my pet peeves is the idea of asking the world to accommodate a situation rather than build solutions that adapt to the world.
Big example: the best we have for mobility nowadays is a wheelchair of some sort. That requires building special ramps and elevators everywhere.
If we had a four legged chair that could climb stairs, etc, like what BD is doing, it could transport people ANYWHERE. you could literally go for a stroll in the woods with it. People that are injured for 6 weeks in their home could go up and down steps, etc. The elderly could go for walks in a park.
So I for one fully support more research into smarter mobility that doesn’t require the world to accommodate it, but instead adjusts to its surroundings.
While I understand and respect the sentiment, in my opinion human history has been a trend in molding our environment to our advantage. I can drive to a remote hill in Bangladesh from the capital because there are roads that we humans built and maintain. If we kept molding to the environment, such an accomplishment would never be possible.
So yeah, maybe mold to the environment a little bit, but also mold the environment a bit, is the ideal solution.
You say this like it's a good thing.
I was replying to parent’s sentiment of why build this kind of thing in the first place.
I was providing an example of a benefit of this technology.
Not really, not fast nor convenient. Any machine will always add extra volume and weight in the most inconvenient ways. There should really be no limitation on the designs, just optimization under the constraints at hand
What changed my mind is thinking of humanoid robots as the “last mile” of robotics. All the thousands of use cases where there are no easy patterns and we need something that can fit into any human task without planning or modification.
The important part lagging is the brain. Understanding the world, reacting to it learning. Even an ant can navigate the world pick-up objects and do tasks.
But the fact is, the world has mostly been built by humans for humans. Pretty much any task you can think of can be accomplished by a human with their arms, legs and some tools.
A generalised robot would look like a human.
For one, there are many applications in dangerous environments that could benefit from the dexterity and ability of bipeds - rescue missions, mining, space walks, etc.
Are you sure? We had robots in factories for more than 50 years, and they don't usually move.