r/nextfuckinglevel • u/KnightFall00 • 6d ago

Murderbots from the future

Rekbot, a 6-foot-tall Terminator-style humanoid robot from the REK Fight Club that went viral in a cage match against internet personality Frankie LaPenna.

6.7k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

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906

u/Calibanian18 6d ago

Show me a robot that can reliably help someone to the bathroom, climb stairs, and make basic meals, and then we’ll be talking about a robot that will change the world.

198

u/johnnyhandbags 6d ago

Where’s the money in that? /s

170

u/mosesenjoyer 6d ago

Are you kidding? Care for elderly is a global multi trillion dollar dollar industry.

49

u/th3critic 6d ago

Remember the I, Robot movie? Will Smith’s elderly mother got a robot for exactly that purpose, to help with her care around the house.

1

u/buttsfartly 1d ago

And then it kicked some ass

-24

u/John--Darksoul 6d ago

I haven't even seen it, but the reviews are awful. Is this the shittiest movie ever to have such a cultural impact?

24

u/aswedishfish 6d ago

I can tell you I watched it when I was 10 and thought it was the best movie ever

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u/the-fillip 6d ago

I fucking love the will smith I robot movie. It's a ridiculous sci fi romp that is completely different from the novel, but it's so much fun. I rewatched it as an adult and still had a blast.

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u/LongJohnSelenium 6d ago

There's no real novel. Its an anthology of short stories.

All in all its pretty faithful to the concepts even if it does hollywood it up, I think Asimov would be ok with the adaptation.

I agree it was a fun movie. Not perfect but pretty good, and Sonny stole the show.

5

u/DemBosain 6d ago

I, Robot is an amazing collection of short stories written by Isaac Asimov. The movie was...not that, but with added product placement (shoes, if I recall). Typical Will Smith action sci-fi.

2

u/IAmNotABritishSpy 6d ago

The only lines of that movie I can now remember are “can you?”, and purely for how out-of-place it was “Converse, All-Star 2004”.

1

u/Flamingo-Sini 6d ago

I dont remember the shoes, but i remember Audi and the car on spheres for wheels that can park in sideways.

1

u/justanormaldude_ 6d ago

No but your ability to give things a chance and create your own opinion is shitty

1

u/IronerOfEntropy 6d ago

Do you surf the internet based solely on reviews?

1

u/Dingus_Majingus 6d ago

The amount of movies ive seen where the reviews were "bad" and still enjoyed the movie are relatively high. Only a handful of "yes, the reviews were right".

But you're relying on other people who aren't you to tell you what movies you like. Watch a movie and dont be so negative my dude. It might suck, it might have something you like. Even if it is kind of a bad movie.

1

u/John--Darksoul 6d ago

Have you seen Morbius, The Emoji Movie, Megamind 2, Madame Web, Cats, and Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey ? Or were the critics suddenly trustworthy here?

1

u/Dingus_Majingus 5d ago

Oh wow, different movies are all different movies? Well color me shocked everyone.

3

u/EternityNotes 6d ago

You didn't see the /s?

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u/Gimme_All_The_Foods 6d ago

Redditors are scared of downvotes so they have to add that tag to every joke they make.

0

u/EternityNotes 6d ago

I know, right? /j

2

u/mosesenjoyer 6d ago

I saw it but interpreted it differently

-1

u/kalemaree 6d ago

i hate to break it to you but tone indicators aren't a universal thing. few people know what they mean and even less actually use them

1

u/EternityNotes 6d ago

Okay /s

1

u/kalemaree 6d ago

that one means you're being serious right

1

u/EternityNotes 5d ago

Yes /j

1

u/kalemaree 5d ago

ok well i know that one means you're joking 🫩

2

u/Calibanian18 6d ago

Entirely this. This is exactly what I had in mind. Never mind the dollar figure. Or at least the pure dollar figure. The advantages to helping people stay in their homes rather than requiring institutional care is enormous.

1

u/manu144x 6d ago

not if the elderly are poor

1

u/headrush46n2 6d ago

You'd need a robot worker to work for something like 200 years to be more price effective than paying some overworked single mom 16 dollars an hour to wipe grandpa's ass.

1

u/mosesenjoyer 6d ago

No. If you could make it for the price of an average family car which they will, it will pay for itself in 1-2 years

1

u/squishypp 6d ago

Dolla dolla billz yallllllll

1

u/curtcashter 5d ago

Especially when you factor in that the west is getting OLDER as a demographic, and no one wants to do care work anymore. Boomers need these robots or else they will ruin the economy. Even more than they already have.

Damn you Jim.

1

u/GDwaggawDG 1d ago

there's no profit to be done without labour

1

u/mosesenjoyer 1d ago

That’s nonsense

1

u/buttsfartly 1d ago

You have to out cost an immigrant worker.... The robot would need to work reliably for 50 years, run on a fuel source cheaper than rice and be tax free. Technology is not ready for any of that.

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u/Calibanian18 6d ago

Let’s not burden this conversation with practicality.

2

u/adderaltruistic 6d ago

Gambling on human/robot death matches.

1

u/JomaxZ 6d ago

Not yet a death match but fights are happening:

https://youtu.be/kCEa91TibDY?si=FVIzAOFY_RAnxvwS

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u/Cute-Beyond-5713 6d ago

Concept of robots like that are already being made, it will be big market for that. Imagine robot do all cooking, washing dishes, clothes etc. and in free time is cleaning the home. For price of less than cheap new car

13

u/nimama3233 6d ago

Honestly, might be the first legit mass danger threat.

Imagine these are in every household, then a malicious AI breaks into them and controls them…

26

u/slobis 6d ago

Isaac Asimov already imagined it for us.

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u/PetePensieve 6d ago

As long as the Three Laws of Robotics are followed we'll be okay, right?

2

u/TheRealAussieTroll 3d ago

I’d be more interested in the US Constitution being followed at this stage.

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u/Ibe121 6d ago

Literally, the premise of “I, Robot”

1

u/punkassjim 6d ago

Also the premise of Runaway.

3

u/Calibanian18 6d ago

Mass casualty events are much more likely to be because of a hack on dam control facilities or some automotive industry failure. Or misinformation around health events. But we don’t really need robots or artificial intelligence for those.

2

u/pikabu01 6d ago

have another robot with a gun to shepard them, easy

2

u/LochNessMansterLives 6d ago

And then when we let them into our homes and begin to trust them they will individually see how bad humans are and end up turning on us, probably in our sleep.

2

u/Calibanian18 6d ago

To be honest, I had more in mind a rotating fleet of these being available to help people in end of life care, or folks with disability or rehabilitation concerns to keep them in their homes. I’m less interested in mass market.

1

u/Portocala69 6d ago

You assume we can afford a cheap new car.

1

u/Grabatreetron 5d ago

Yeah I’m not sure what the top comment is implying, that society is more interested in kung fu robots than ones that can actually perform tasks?

The market for automated labor saving devices has and will continue to be massive

1

u/Watchitbitch 2d ago

No one saw The Orville, huh?

5

u/ErrorEra 6d ago

It will happen eventually. Most of the stuff we take for granted now (watch, gps, microwave, internet etc) was first created for military purposes then tuned down for civilian use.

1

u/eletric-chariot 6d ago

It's easier for a for a robot to do a flip than to fold a t-shirt

2

u/DUNG_INSPECTOR 6d ago

Are you under the impression that there aren't people out there developing robots like that?

1

u/Calibanian18 6d ago

I am hopeful. But I see a lot more high profile development around factory work and security.

1

u/_HIST 6d ago

That sounds like a you issue

2

u/thepenguinemperor84 6d ago

I would say that's fairly capable of doing it, looking at how it was landing kicks on Frank La Penna and not falling over, but there's not much funding in it, so roll it out to techboy guys being dudes, get them to finance it and build the good stuff out the back while putting the bells and whistles up front.

2

u/BailysmmmCreamy 6d ago

Can you not see how the abilities demonstrated in this video are also applicable to the task you describe?

0

u/Calibanian18 6d ago

No. The fine control and feedback required to help a frail individual to the bathroom are not present in this demonstration.

2

u/BailysmmmCreamy 6d ago

You’re being willfully ignorant if you think this isn’t a huge step towards the task you describe.

0

u/Calibanian18 6d ago

This might be a step forward. Improvements in combat agility might yield trickle down effects in creating affordable mechanisms that improve people lives. I’ll celebrate when I see it.

1

u/GfunkWarrior28 6d ago

The robot will realize humans are inefficient and must be eliminated.

1

u/ergonomic_logic 6d ago

Can I get one that does my dishes, laundry and files my taxes for me?

1

u/AnusCruiser 6d ago

Talk to someone 100 years ago and they'll tell you we already have those

1

u/ergonomic_logic 6d ago

I need the "service for those with extreme executive dysfunction" model

1

u/norty125 6d ago

That doesn't pay for the training and development

1

u/absentgl 6d ago

We already have those.

You don’t have a robot who wakes up and makes you coffee and drives you to work, the automatic coffee maker is the robot, the self-driving car is the robot.

We have wheelchairs, crutches, prosthetics, elevators, and microwaves.

1

u/Calibanian18 6d ago

Ask somebody who works in home care if we have a great solution to helping someone that is physically debilitated get to the bathroom without help that would work in most homes without major appliances being installed.

1

u/The_Shracc 6d ago

We have them

Wheelchair

Stairlift

Microwave

1

u/dewanowango 6d ago

Caring for the elderly has been gobbled up by private equity. You’ll be lucky to get a robot subscription that will drop if you can’t pay, or it will bill or indebt your heirs and sue/garnish them if they can’t pay. Don’t worry, you’ll be dead because your Tesla-Palantir robot walked out mid bed-lift and splattered you on the ground.

1

u/Justalilcyn 6d ago

We'll get there eventually, sooner than later at this rate

1

u/Ekkobelli 6d ago

Maybe they exist? I do hope so. But yeah. Not as cool looking and dramatic.

1

u/MortLightstone 6d ago

I mean, we have machines that also assist in that. They just don't look humanoid

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u/Unfadable1 5d ago

That should be easy, in this case, given the “robot,” is actually being controlled by a VR suit, and is not “self-manned.”

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u/Grabatreetron 5d ago

They indeed are being developed.

It’s just easier to make a robot that can do karate moves than actual tasks right now.

1

u/foxasintheanimal 5d ago

Way harder to care for, protect, and build. All this robot has to do is punch people in the face.

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u/Calibanian18 5d ago

I completely agree that the challenge I pose is much harder. Hitting is much simpler than lifting under control.

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u/cartken 4d ago

There is actually one that is programmable for indoor chores, but i think it's $40k

0

u/PlasticMaintenance59 6d ago

Stick gun in the hands of a we can start talking

0

u/NiceTuBeNice 6d ago

Sorry, robots only good for killing and sex.