Humanoid Robots Have a Serious Design Flaw, And We Need to Fix It

Watch Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot doing training routines, or the latest humanoids from Figure loading a washing machine, and it’s easy to believe the robot revolution is here.

From the outside, it seems the only remaining challenge is perfecting the AI ( artificial intelligence) software to enable these machines to handle real-life environments.

Humanoid robots won’t be attending the robot revolution.

Watch the video embedded in the article, and you will see why humanoid robots aren’t practical.  The robot does not do the laundry.  It empties a bucket of laundry into the washing machine.  It took 45 seconds to do what the 3 year old girl in the video could do in 10 seconds.

It isn’t necessarily an advantage for a robot to be laid out like a human.  Airplanes don’t work like birds.  A drill bit doesn’t resemble a carpenter bee or termite.  A garbage truck doesn’t act like a raccoon.

Bipedal motion, walking on two legs, is really difficult.  Walking on two legs doesn’t improve the robot’s ability to load a washing machine.  How many domestic tasks rely on bipedal motion?  None come to mind.  The humanoid shape places additional restrictions on the robot’s design. 

Practical robots will be built for specific purposes and will be shaped to best complete those tasks.

Youtube physicist, Angela Collier, already did a comprehensive video on why “humanoid robots belong in the trash”.  She can get off track and just keep talking, so we can skip the first 15 minutes.  She’s smart and kind of cute, so she explains it.