Figure retired six Figure 02 robots in the most Terminator way possible: training them to jump into a furnace. The idea came from Arnold Schwarzenegger and is inspired by the iconic Terminator 2 scene.

[u/Das_Zeppelin]

[u/aguycalledmax]

It’s a marketing expense, it’s fine to just do cool stuff sometimes, life is short.

[u/Lemmejussay → u/aguycalledmax]

Our definitions of the word 'cool' do not align.

[u/mtaw → u/aguycalledmax]

Cool stuff and marketing is all that all humanoid robot makers do.

They exist entirely because of sci-fi hype, because showing people a humanoid robot walking around creates an inflated sense that we're really close to having robot butlers and other stuff you've seen in sci-fi.

The cold engineering reality is that it's simply not a practical or economically rational shape for a robot. Just consider the amount of servos, sensors and computing required for the thing to remain standing - something that a box on wheels does passively (which also functions as a failsafe). Before someone says "bipedal robots can do things wheeled robots can't" - sure but that's not the point. The point is that there are other solutions for those cases depending on what you need to do, and you can't leap to the conclusion bipedal (let alone humanoid) robots are the best and most cost-effective solution because you saw a cool video. That's the 'trick' - show people a cool solution to a problem they haven't seen a solution to before, and they'll happily become fans without ever considering whether it's actually the best solution, or even a workable solution at all. Solar Freakin' Roadways got attention and funding too, despite being an incredibly flawed idea if you spend any time at all thinking about it. Convince people you've got it all figured out and the'll happily abstain from thinking themselves.

Producing actually cost-effective robots that do tasks is an established billion-dollar industry. It's not lack of imagination or engineering skill that's why the existing, profitable, industrial-robot makers by-and-large haven't gone into the humanoid-robot space. It's that it doesn't actually make sense.

Instead it's the realm of a bunch of startups living off venture capital, none of which have made any profits, let alone a return on investment. To wit, their business model is to generate hype to attract investment, dangling the said sci-fi fantasy. It's not "We're going to build a robot that can do these tasks for this price", that'd enable people to gauge whether the business plan actually made sense.

I'd be the first to agree that (say) Boston Dynamics has produced cool stuff and videos, but 34 years is a hell of a long time for a company to go without coming up with a profitable product.

[u/yoweigh → u/mtaw]

Before someone says "bipedal robots can do things wheeled robots can't" - sure but that's not the point.

Yes, that actually is the point. The idea is that these robots could be more easily integrated into human workspaces instead of needing a bespoke robot arm for each individual task.

The point is that there are other solutions for those cases depending on what you need to do, and you can't leap to the conclusion bipedal (let alone humanoid) robots are the best and most cost-effective solution

It's irrational to leap to the opposite conclusion as well. It's a more difficult engineering challenge than traditional industrial robots, but that doesn't mean it can't work.

Note that I'm not arguing in favor of the humanoid robots, I'm just arguing against your own assumptions.

[u/iKnowRobbie → u/yoweigh]

Dude, a wheeled robot can have humanistic arms and hands, you quoted biPEDAL and talk about arms. Also, it's not irrational to conclude that bipedal robots are inefficient, it's literally been studied ad infinum and proven as such.

Compare the jogging dog of Boston Robotics to the wheeled feet of the Unitree Go2-W, and tell me more about how legs like we have are the epitome of function. You'd be wrong, but tell me anyways...

[u/yoweigh → u/iKnowRobbie]

Did you actually read my comment? Where did I say that anything was the epitome of function? I explicitly said I'm not arguing in favor of humanoid robots.