Why Humanoid Robots Are Silicon Valley's Most Dangerous Bet

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2 pointsPhilKunz2 comments

"With lithium-ion batteries offering energy density of 0.8 megajoules per kilogram versus human body fat at 38 MJ/kg, robots face a 47-fold disadvantage that better engineering can't solve. Most platforms operate for just 90 minutes to four hours between charges."

Cool. And not the problem robots are trying to solve?

A robot can work 365 days a year (part of each day anyway).

They don't have a union or a contract.

They are fungible - any humanoid robot can fill in for another. They are all programmed, so can have any skill that any other robot can have. Without retraining, just copying software.

Injury? Just snap off a mangled hand, snap on a spare.

Hot, humid, dirty, toxic fumes, low oxygen levels - just keep on working.

And, engineering will solve the energy density problem. See any graph of battery energy density over time e.g. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/History-of-development-o...

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