Is the longer term of robotics specialized or humanoid? That depends

For a long time, science fiction has depicted a robotic future dominated by human-like machines. They are available the shape of assistants, entertainers, caregivers, or deadly soldiers sent to exterminate us mortals. They could be fabricated from shiny metal, or have skin and hair like a human and be unrecognizable amongst us. They hold a lot promise, and at some point in the longer term, they are going to fulfill our every need and desire. It’s easy to assume a world where they’re throughout us, helping, supporting, and even protecting us from others. One thinks of all forms of scenarios, from utopian to downright dystopian. But here’s a daring prediction for somebody working in the sector: the true robot revolution is already underway, and it’s largely driven by the non-humanoid bots. I’ll explain why that is not a foul thing.

We live in a man-made world

First, the world was not built for humanoids. Our built world has evolved over 1000’s of years, adding various materials, technologies, and even machines to enable our modern lifestyle. It was designed by humans for humans, with intricate spaces and places that our human bodies can easily navigate. To at the present time, most doors have knobs, shelves are at average arm height, and tools are built for our two highly developed eyes and our very dexterous hands. Hand-eye coordination with opposable thumbs is why we’re the apex species of our time.

Humanoid bipedal robots are heavy. Really heavy.

While most buildings built after the Fifties are fairly standardized in form, much of our built world shouldn’t be, and there’s a lot variation (from doors, windows, ceiling switches, to staircase height). Add to that the undeniable fact that no two rooms are the identical, and there are such a lot of completely different furnishings or “obstacles” (consider all of your crowded rooms) that robots can bump into and trip up against. Humanoid robots entering this world may have to adapt to those incredibly diverse structures, essentially replicating the identical human movements with rather more complex and expensive machinery. This shouldn’t be insurmountable, but it’ll take a while.

Building a very balanced and dexterous humanoid robot requires breakthroughs in each the software and hardware and battery technology of artificial intelligence. While advances in AI are promising and making progress, the hardware and battery technology required for a very robust, agile and energy-efficient humanoid robot stays a significant hurdle. Companies like figure , Tesla and others promise a world where these humanoids could do the work of a billion staff within the fields and factories, be your personal assistant across the house, and even be your companion. One day in the longer term, they may just do that. In the meantime, incredible obstacles should be overcome and we’re seeing specialized robots change into much more capable and higher suited to the various use cases mentioned.

For some, humanoids are the holy grail of embodied AI through robotics and energy storage. Who can argue with that? Sometimes, nevertheless, copying nature is not all the time one of the best solution. The human body has evolved over 1,000,000 years and is great at traversing very different and varied environments, but for certain tasks, wheels or tracks offer higher stability and efficiency. Now think of specialised robots. Instead of legs, think wheels and tracks for warehouses, arms for factories and fields, and drone flights for inspections. Designed for specific tasks, these robots leverage existing infrastructure and automatic tools. Not only is that this approach much more efficient, it already exists and is evolving rapidly, being applied to make use of cases in real time.

Sometimes science fiction contradicts itself. A comparatively recent British television series called People had lifelike humanoids or “synthetics” who took on just about every human role (yes, even life partners!) and yet they drove around in regular cars. As the producers said, we are able to imagine a future world where humanoids exist amongst us, relatively than consider in AI-controlled self-driving robot taxis! And unlike that future, Waymooffers a robotaxi service in San Francisco today, but we’ve got not yet seen human-like conductors operating the Muni cable cars.

The way forward for robotics is collaborative

The simplest robots will work alongside humans, not replace them. The fear that robots will take over our jobs is far-fetched. There can be tasks inside jobs that can be replaced and, frankly, must be replaced. The tasks inside jobs which can be essentially the most dangerous, that involve repetitive strain, or are only plain drudgery are a lot better suited to machines doing essentially the most horrific, repetitive, monotonous, and tedious tasks.

The future has already produced plenty of cobots (collaborative robots) that will help in factories, construction sites, hospitals and even the house. These robots, with their special design, form and performance, leverage existing infrastructure and human expertise to deliver real productivity gains. We may not even recognize the robots of the longer term, as they could possibly be within the background. Dishwashers, Roombas and automatic lawnmowers and hospital cleaners are prime examples already. Even in most science fiction movies, while some humanoids tackle crucial human-related tasks, the overwhelming majority of tasks are performed by the specialized bots.

In the near future, every industry may have its own version of cobots, from construction, transportation, energy, mining, agriculture, hospitality, medicine, and waste management – the use cases are consistently growing. These non-humanoid robots are quietly improving our lives and their capabilities will proceed to evolve.

The way forward for robotics shouldn’t be about copying humans, but about specialization and collaboration. By specializing in the proper tools for the job, we are able to create a future where robots integrate seamlessly into our lives, becoming invisible helpers in a world made for us, helping us change into higher and fulfill our potential to be more human.