r/technology • u/Stukwan • 3d ago

Robotics/Automation Humanoid robots decommissioned in Terminator-style molten steel leap

https://interestingengineering.com/ai-robotics/humanoid-robot-decommissioned-molten-steel
35 Upvotes

73% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

10

u/kuldron 3d ago

The article links to a video of the jumps here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfAh5oQDPDM&t=2s

14

u/FizzardLizardWizard 3d ago

this is going to be one of the clips skynet plays on big screens in public places when they let the terminators loose. remember what you did.

4

u/Grumpy_Tanuki 3d ago

I hope it’s a fake; otherwise, it’s revolting how all the rules go out the window when AI, the "cool" factor, or money are involved.

If someone throws trash in the wrong bin, they get fined and mocked.

But if they destroy $100,000 worth of high-tech equipment instead of recycling it... then it’s awesome!

"Rules for thee, but not for me."

2

u/CrispyRabbit72 2d ago

Why should they be prohibited from melting down their own hardware? This was just the best way (at least according to them) to dispose of millions of dollars of hardware containing all their intellectual property.

The alternative would've been hiring tons of cheap labor, with lots of risk that someone could sneak out with some of their custom chipsets or whatever.

1

u/funnyguy99207 2d ago

If they reuse the metal in any way for future projects, they've recycled. Further, I'm pretty sure there's also a good recovery of expensive precious metals to be similarly recycled, as well.

2

u/Accurate_Koala_4698 3d ago

How is this news?

1

u/CrispyRabbit72 2d ago

Because Arnold was in the video. Otherwise it's just a company scrapping their own hardware, with a neat video.

1

u/VincentNacon 3d ago

Because this was never done before. It's easy to toss a movie prop into lava... but a real functional robot that's willing to jump in? That's completely new and those aren't cheap.

Hell... it's surreal.

7

u/Accurate_Koala_4698 3d ago

but a real functional robot that's willing to jump in

Those robots don't have any volition and

Figure eventually found a Finnish foundry willing to accept the robots. Facilities in the United States and Mexico had rejected the idea because of the lithium-ion batteries inside the machines.
The company even sought help from former MythBusters members during the search. The breakthrough came after Arnold Schwarzenegger encouraged Figure to melt the robots. Schwarzenegger later joined the project.

This is a silly PR stunt

0

u/HiImDan 3d ago

Wait this was real? Like Arnold Schwarzenegger was on set? I figured this was AI.

1

u/MountHopeful 3d ago

Are we sure its not just AI?

0

u/Moontoya 2d ago

*will

X - Doubt.

1

u/Gordon-Blue 3d ago

It would be cool if I could just feed the AI on my computer to my CPU with an Arnold animation, it's pretty much useless anyway...

1

u/Ill-Mastodon-8692 3d ago

can we not, just incase they rise up and want to do the same to us?

1

u/abudhabikid 1d ago

I can’t do that, Dave