Re:Figure 03, our 3rd generation humanoid robot
by MakeAJiraTicket on Friday October 10, 2025 @12:04AM
(#45535266)
The Telexistence demo isn't so bad, but I have no idea why we're trying to make human robots generally. The human shape sucks at a most things, and we already have people treating roombas and GPT like their boyfriends or pets...
Re:Figure 03, our 3rd generation humanoid robot
by tomcam on Friday October 10, 2025 @12:11AM
(#45535306)
What form factor would be better at going up and down stairs? Reaching to a high shelf? Getting between the refrigerator and counter to grab a key?
Re:Figure 03, our 3rd generation humanoid robot
by jjaksic on Friday October 10, 2025 @03:25AM
(#45536198)
Because human work is designed for humans. If you want a drop-in replacement for human workers, humanoid robots are your best bet.
Re:Figure 03, our 3rd generation humanoid robot
by seanhunter on Friday October 10, 2025 @08:14AM
(#45538073)
That doesn’t even remotely follow. Human work is designed for humans so if you want human work done you need a human to do it.
If you want to replace the human the best bet is to redesign the work so that it can be done with machine assistance, which is what we’ve been doing since the industrial revolution.
There’s a reason the motor car (which is the successful mass market personal transportation machine) doesn’t look anything like the horse that it replaced.
Re:Figure 03, our 3rd generation humanoid robot
by blktiger on Friday October 10, 2025 @10:14AM
(#45539343)
Sure but robots don’t join unions or ask for a pay raise or benefits.
Re:Figure 03, our 3rd generation humanoid robot
by jkestner on Friday October 10, 2025 @10:55AM
(#45539781)
<HN voice>Technically, the motor car replaced the coach. A more accurate and enjoyable analogy would that car engines don’t look like horses.
Re:Figure 03, our 3rd generation humanoid robot
by batch12 on Friday October 10, 2025 @10:58AM
(#45539825)
hence horseless CARriage
Re:Figure 03, our 3rd generation humanoid robot
by batch12 on Friday October 10, 2025 @11:00AM
(#45539840)
I don't think that it's human work this would target, but instead work in shared human spaces.
Re:Figure 03, our 3rd generation humanoid robot
by seanhunter on Friday October 10, 2025 @02:35PM
(#45542252)
We already have robots that work in shared human spaces, and our experience in that domain has shown that you need to put a lot of thought into how to do this safely and specifically how to prevent the robot from accidentally harming the humans. Ask anyone with a robotic cnc machine how they would feel about running the machine without its protective housing for example. I expect they will start to throw up just a little bit. Flexibility is exactly the opposite of what you need until we have a CV and controller combination that can really master its environment. I could forsee a lot of terrible accidents if you brought a humanoid robot into a domestic environment without a lot of care and preparation for example.
An obvious application, if this robot could do it, is retail store shelf restocking. That's a reasonably constrained pick and place task, some mobility is necessary, and the humanoid form is appropriate working in aisles and shelves spaced for humans. How close is that?
It's been tried before. In 2020.[1] And again in 2022.[2] That one runs on a track, is closer to an traditional industrial robot, and is used by 7-11 Japan.
Robots that just cruise around stores and inspect the shelves visually are in moderately wide use. They just compare the shelf images with the planogram; they don't handle the merchandise. So there are already systems to help plan the restocking task.
Technical University Delft says their group should be able to do this in five years.[3] (From when? No date on press release.)
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHgdW1HYLbM
[2] https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/telexistence-convenience-store...
[3] https://www.tudelft.nl/en/stories/articles/shelf-stocking-ro...