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Thousands of humanoid robots with advanced artificial intelligence are set to begin entering workplaces and homes in 2025, according to a new report. The jury is still out, however, on whether this will be a good thing or bad.
“There is a lot of optimism that ChatGPT-level models for robotics will soon be upon us,” Dr. Ed Colgate, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University, told New Scientist. “While humanoids have been around for a long time, we’ve never seen anything like this.”
In October, video showed a Boston Dynamics Atlas humanoid robot performing tasks in a workplace with no assistance from humans. All of the robots motions were generated autonomously using artificial intelligence (AI).
According to New Scientist technology reporter Jeremy Hsu, “Humanoid robots with two arms and legs should fit more easily into spaces designed for humans, but pulling that off will require much better artificial intelligence to handle such unpredictable environments. The hope is that recent advances in AI can be put to work in this way.”
Hsu cites numerous examples of where companies that manufacture humanoid bots will make their influence known in 2025, including in car factories, warehouses, manufacturing facilities, research institutions, and even people’s homes.
Figure tested its humanoid robots in a BMW factory in 2024 and plans a larger deployment in 2025. Apptronik has been testing its Apollo robot in Mercedes-Benz facilities and hopes to commercialize it by the end of 2025. Tesla will begin producing its Optimus robot for internal use before year ends. Agility Robotics has tested its humanoid robot in Amazon facilities and plans to manufacture hundreds of more robots this year. Fourier has already delivered more than 100 humanoid robots to manufacturing facilities and research institutions. And 1X plans to have its model begin organizing and cleaning homes in 2025.
The good news, at least for humans, is that these robots can’t completely replace everything that we do… yet.
“Robot hands are just now getting pretty good at grasping, but human hands do so much more – we use them to manipulate the world in endlessly clever ways,” said Colgate.
Until then, it sounds like we’re safe.