Powered by AI, the era of humanoid robots is here • FRANCE 24 English

business means we are joined by Yuka Royer here in the studio. Very good evening to you as always. Pleasure to see you. Hi Mark. There’s been some major breakthroughs uh today uh in the issue of robotics. Yeah, over the last couple of weeks actually humanoid robots especially uh they have been around for a while now but artificial intelligence has taken humanoids to a new level which seemed like science fiction only a few years ago. Last month, US company 1X Home Robots introduced this Neo robot built as the first robot that can do house tours. It’s powered by large language models and the user can verbally ask it to do the washing up, fold clothes or water the plants. It’s set to go on sale next year, although according to the Wall Street Journal, it would still require human intervention before becoming fully uh automated. Last week, Chinese electric car company Xpang unveiled its latest iron robot. It moved so smoothly the company had to cut open one of its legs to prove that there wasn’t a real human hiding inside. After this, Elon Musk said Tesla and China would dominate the market. His EV companies also developing a humanoid called Optimus with Musk saying 80% of the company’s future future value could come from it. Now, for more on just how rapidly this new market is de developing, let’s bring in Mark Minovich, a strategic partner at Mayfield and founder of the AI for the planet alliance with the United Nations. Thank you so much for joining us, Mark. Thank you very much. Thank you uh for having me. Now, robots have been around for decades, ever since automation began. Why is there a lot of attention now on humanoid robot robots? Well, thank you very much. I think we entered a new chapter of human progress. Few years ago, as you mentioned, humanoid robots were just very clumsy. They were working in labs and research. Today, they walk, they grasp their reason. They combine agentic AI. They combine generative AI. They’re powered by the same agentic AI models that have revolutionized and transformed us already. Large language models, I mean, and also they provide creativity. And by the way, I’ve written recently the humanite era has arrived. Indeed, this is a moment we are all accustomed to looking at the screens. Digital intelligence, right? But now this digital intelligence becomes physical form. AI is literally stepping into the real world. So it’s coming into the real world right now. So are we finally getting our own C3POS uh produced for the mass market? Well, I think it’s certainly not a gimmick. I think it’s a very pragmatic choice. Uh the world we built right now as you’ve been discussing, it’s about tools. It’s about spaces. It’s about workflows. It was made for humans and robot in a human form. It’s going to fit instantly for us. It’s really made for us as you mentioned. It could open doors. It could climb stairs now. It could use medical equipment. People who are elderly are going to depend on it. We’re already seeing it in Japan. Uh or even assist uh people who are going to redesign entire environments. So I think the universally right now globally humanoids is the natural progression and the natural interface between real humans like us uh real uh carbon humans and silicon form which is AI. So it’s a natural progression. So has the advance advancement of AI being a gamecher here then? Well of course we all have witnessed CH GPT come alive in 2022 November. It was an incredible moment for all of us and of course and now the the systems the reasoning models become very very intelligent uh using LLMs but more than that agentic AI which is the system which is not only just uh there to give us information or give us insights it’s there to actually act to do something and I think combining the agentic power and combining the compute power coming from Nvidia and and other places but primarily from Nvidia the chipsets The compute is going to allow us to actually make those physical AI humanoid robots to do things almost like humans. They’re going to be able to decipher. They’ll make decisions. They’ll have better perception. And now with humanoid robots that Elon Musk has presented to the world, Optimus have excellent dexterity. Dexterity that is going to at some point match the human the human arm uh in a way. And of course they are leveraging massive compute power. So I do believe this is the future. So Tesla, there’s Tesla there and there’s also China that’s emerging as a dominant player here. Well, thank you so much. Uh that’s I’m afraid that’s all we have time for for now, but thank you so much for joining us again. Yeah, absolutely. I just I just want to make uh the point that it’s Tesla, Figure AI, Agility, China, Xpunk Robotics, uh Norwegians are coming and you’re right, the competition is massive. It’s not only mechanical, it’s cognitive. The winners are going to be the ones like you mentioned will have the best physical AI, the smartest agentic brains, robust data infrastructure. It’s coming from United States in China. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Physical AI, Mark. Physical AI. You have me at you have me at the robot that could do the housework. That be absolutely fantastic. Put me down for three of those. Yuka, thank you very much indeed. You come back with more business, of course, as we go through the evening.

US firm 1X Home Robots says its first “housekeeping robot” NEO can be ready to start working in homes next year. Meanwhile, China’s XPeng unveiled its latest IRON robot, which moved so smoothly it had to cut open one of its legs to prove there wasn’t a real human hiding inside. Humanoid robots have been around for decades, but with the advances of AI they have moved to a new level. Yuka Royer speaks with AI strategist Mark Minevich about just how far they have come, and how market competition is heating up. 
#AI #Humanoids #Robots

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23 comments

  2. There’s nothing inherently bad about robots or AI -except that tech billionaires like Elon Musk want to replace all workers with them. Workers will then be redundant and phased out, allowing said billionaires to enjoy eternal Gatsby parties and scenic tours around the solar system, while AI and robots perform all necessary work -no health-care or basic income benefits required!

  4. Yeah but can they do a sexy striptease yet? Right down to the wire and chips. Real horror movie style. Is there a viagra for that?

  6. Well, if only "to be intelligent" were so easy… (Spolier alert: no, intelligence has been a long process, more than thousands of years. It is like saying my washing machine is really smart because it knows how to wash my clothes)

  7. Why does a robot have breasts? Can it take care of and feed newborns? Until I know that a robot fears harming humans I will not let one near me. Where are Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics"?

  12. 0:36 😂😂😂😂 That's a hoax. It only has 3 automated functions which barely work and it's actually a subscription based program in which you pay someone to telecontrol that robot. 😂😂😂😂 Who made this news is not up to speed with the latest finds

  15. The robotics are certainly there already with companies showing off their abilities with teleoperation or remote operation but autonomous AI is still quite a ways off.

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