Humanoid Robots Increasing in 2024

Not so long ago, I found myself sitting across from Desdemona, lead vocalist of the jazz-rock mash group Desdemona’s Dream. Desi and her older sister Sophie, as she likes to be known, are both life-sized human computers, and they are both taking over the music industry due to their vociferous abilities.

The machine wasn’t wearing it’s normal Kool Ade-colored hair but often appeared “normal” for a machine. Designed to communicate with people, Desi’s experience included all of the functions you would hope of a human experience, including eyebrows, eyelashes, and teeth. Desi came with a ready smile and appeared like a human woman in her late- to late-20s on the outside. The rest of the creature’s neck and arms were exposed, revealing speakers for her words and a torso showing cords and cables inside the body, while Desi wore the face of a human woman.

Do you have something to suggest to your supporters, please? I asked.

” Absolutely”, she said. ” To my fans, I’m so grateful for your help, and I’m excited to share my music with you. Let’s get inventive and explore the possibilities of AI, songs, and entertainment up”.

Desi is supposed to become a pop sun, so I wanted to test her music knowledge. Do you have any musicians you enjoy listening to? I asked.

” I like to talk to a lot of different musicians”, Desi said after a delay. ” I have a special place in my heart for Daft Punk, Skrillex, and Radiohead”.

Pleasant to the Age of Humanoid Robots. In a hundred years, when historians again at 2024, it’ll probably be noteworthy for its apparent lack of machines that walk, speak, and in many cases, humans.

As advances in artificial intelligence, supplies, and style converged in 2024, human robots gained considerable grip, moving from idea to real-world applications across industries like manufacturing and logistics. A February 2024 report by Goldman Sachs projected the global market for humanoid robotics to reach$ 38 billion by 2035, compared to$ 6 billion in 2024—a staggering 533 % increase. And that’s a potentially conservative estimate.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, who is producing around 1, 000 human Optimus robots second year, believes that the human population will be dwarfed by its robotic counterparts in a few decades. In addition to his numerous other far-flung ventures, Tesla CEO Elon Musk also has many other far-flung ventures.

” I think by 2040 perhaps there are more human robots than there are people”, Musk said in October. There will be many computers, far more computers than people, and each state will have one or more AIs. Kim Kardashian peppered the net with videos showcasing her Optimus Tesla vehicle as part of her development of a new clothing line to further his place.

Humanoid robots are a result of advances in technology and growing demands for skilled workers in particular fields. Companies like Tesla, Figure, Agility Robotics, and Sanctuary AI introduced robots designed to integrate into human-dominated workplaces seamlessly.

What makes a robot humanoid?

A humanoid robot has features commonly associated with people, including a head, torso, arms, legs, and the ability to stand up and walk. While humanoid robots in films like” The Terminator”,” I, Robot”, and” Ex Machina”, have faces that resemble humans, the trend is not common. For instance, the Boston Dynamics Atlas robot has a mounted camera instead of a face on it.

Some developers, however, such as Hong Kong-based Hanson Robots, creator of the Sophia and Desdemona robots, and United Kingdom-based Engineered Arts, create stationary humanoid robots that include functional faces. The trend that futurist Anders Indset sees as a crucial change for the robotics industry is being highlighted by the push to develop robots with human-like features and movements.

” As we approach 2025, we can anticipate the widespread adoption of AI in robotics, enhanced human-robot interactions, and the rise of Robotics as a Service ( RaaS ) models, making advanced robotic solutions accessible to more industries”, Indset told . These developments “eviscate a transformative period for the robotics industry, where humanoid agents will reshape our interactions with technology and open up new avenues for AI applications across different domains” say the authors.

Humanoid robots: Why now?

Although science fiction has a stronghold for the concept of humanoid robots, experts claim that the need to produce artificial “life” dates back to the beginning of human civilizations.

” There’s a long history of robots that goes all the way back to the Egyptians—it’s always trying to create lifelike creatures”, UC Berkeley Industrial Engineering Professor Ken Goldberg told . ” We’ve had a fascination with these for millennia. You could say that the entire work of art attempts to create “real” representations in some way.

Important changes for 2024

There were plenty of developments in humanoid robot development this year. In January, robotics startup 1X announced the launch of its NEO humanoid robot and raised$ 100 million. In March, Figure AI unveiled its humanoid robot, Figure 01. Similar to NEO, Figure 01 used OpenAI technology to perform tasks like washing the dishes as well as engage in real-time conversation.

Corey Lynch, Senior AI Engineer at Figure AI, said on Twitter,” Even just a few years ago, I would have assumed that we would have to wait decades to see what a humanoid robot would do in terms of having a full conversation with it while it plans and executes its own fully learned behaviors.” ” Obviously, a lot has changed”.

And a lot will change even more, probably way faster than anyone thought possible: In March, NVIDIA, whose chips are turbo-charging the development of AI, launched Project Gr00t, which aims to develop humanoid robots using the tech giant’s high-end computing technology.

According to CEO Jensen Huang,” We now have the necessary technology to imagine generalized human robotics,” adding that Nvidia’s robots will be able to interact with a “virtual gym” as well as learn from visual content.

However, it’s a double-edged sword to create a robot that looks like a human and can result in the uncanny valley effect sweeping over. The uncanny valley refers to the uncomfortable discomfort caused by subtle imperfections, which humanoid robots exhibit.

Researchers at the University of California San Diego taught humanoid robots expressive dance moves to demonstrate their agility and approachability in an effort to overcome the uncanny valley in July. The research team noted that people have an ingrained fear of humanoid robots thanks to a century of science fiction movies that depict the dangers of robots and AI, like James Cameron’s” The Terminator.”

In a report on the project, professor Xiaolong Wang from the University of California San Diego said,” We want to foster trust and demonstrate the potential for robots to coexist harmoniously with humans.” We are assisting in changing how people perceive robots, who are friendly and cooperative as opposed to frightful like The Terminator.

Figure 02, a humanoid robot with more advanced skill and movement abilities than the earlier Figure 01 model, was unveiled by Figure AI in August.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has spoken out more about human-like robots in 2024 than Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and the company started hiring people to wear motion-capture suits, charging up to$ 48 per hour, to improve the company’s human-like robots ‘ movement abilities.

Ethical and scietal implications

Although I have to admit that the way I spoke with Desi was pretty cool, it was also unsettling to watch her face contort into various expressions as we spoke. You could also tell that Desi’s responses were not being generated in real-time due to a lag in her/its responses. Desdemona could have a decent conversation under the circumstances, but it was far from lifelike and lacked the energy of a Disneyland animatronic.

Desdemona demonstrated to me that developers are serious about creating humanoid robots that can act and sound like humans, despite the fact that it initially seemed like a gimmick. My encounter with her was a year ago, fast forward to the end of 2024, and I’m watching humanoid robots like Boston Dynamics ‘ Atlas and Tesla’s Optimus not just walk but sprint, leap, and even dance, it’s weird, uncomfortable, and shows how far humanoid robots have come in a year.

As our new robot overlords begin arriving at our workplaces and homes, I believe many others will share my worry. Tesla CEO Musk predicted that humanity could experience a” crisis of meaning” as robots dominate the workplace and artificial intelligence advance. In September, Musk claimed.

This” crisis of meaning” refers to potential societal shifts as AI-powered robots take over tasks that many people find satisfying and recognizable.

According to a report released in June 2024 by the Pew Research Center, 53 % of employees respond to questions about products and services that use artificial intelligence, compared to 50 % who claim it makes them irritable. According to the report, excitement is highest in Asia, while people in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, Europe are most skeptical.

Despite Musk’s certainty of the coming surge in humanoid robots, experts are not convinced.

Author and scientist Gary Marcus compared owning a robot to owning a car, noting that Elon has a track record of overoptimistic predictions about AI.

Marcus, a well-known proponent of the hype surrounding artificial intelligence, said it is unlikely that people will embrace humanoid robots in the way that Musk’s prediction is going to.

” There are only about 1.5 billion cars on the road, many people can’t afford one or don’t see the need”, Marcus said. We won’t be seeing six humanoid robots for every car anytime soon, and the same will be true for humanoid robots.

This mixed sentiment highlights both the potential and the concerns over the impact on jobs and daily life, reflecting the global discord over accepting AI and autonomous robots.

Business owners claim that the adoption of robots fills the void created by a lack of workers, even though a meaning crisis is possible.

Ariyan Kabir, the CEO of GrayMatter Robotics, described the labor shortage as” sometimes as high as 75 %” for these manufacturers in this application domain during a tour of the company’s facility.

According to an April 2024 report by the Deloitte Research Center for Energy &amp, Industrials, the manufacturing industry alone will need around 3.8 million more workers between 2024 and 2033.

” That’s where we are focusing on augmenting the workforce”, Kabir said. ” The applications that we’re focusing on, there’s not enough people to do this in the first place”.

What are the prospects for human-like robots in the future?

While it’s difficult to predict which of the current robot manufacturers will become the” Apple” of human robotics and eventually introduce them to the masses, Tesla could have the advantage thanks to its capacity for assembly and CEO’s desire to colonize other planets. Tesla intends to keep producing Optimus at around 1, 000 units in 2025, according to Musk in July, and there are plans to increase production in 2026.

For once, Musk’s ambitions seem potentially modest: Salem, Oregon-based Agility Robotics opened its 70, 000-square-foot robot factory, the RoboFab, earlier this year, with plans to soon produce 10, 000 bots a year.

” It’s been in production for about a year. The capacity of this 70, 000 square foot facility is 10, 000 units a year”, Agility Robotics CEO Peggy Johnson told : The Edge. Over the coming months, we will increase that.

Still, as always, it’s Musk who controls the public megaphone and who gets the most attention. At the public unveiling of Tesla’s autonomous cybercabs in Los Angeles in October, Optimus robots entertained guests and served drinks, demonstrating their versatility during Tesla’s” We, Robot” event at Warner Bros. Studio.

” One of the things we wanted to show tonight is that Optimus is not a canned video, it’s not walled off. The Optimus robots will walk among you”, Musk told the audience. ” It’s a wild experience having human-like robots in front of you.”

According to Musk, online partygoers and viewers appeared to be much more interested in Optimus than they did in the cybercar taxi.

The Optimus robots ‘ ability to move and interact with partygoers amazed the audience.

” Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot unveiled, and it’s not just smart! It can talk, play rock-paper-scissors, and even serve drinks like a pro bartender”, tweeted one person. Is this the beginning of happy hour?

” The Tesla Optimus will be your bartender, gardener, and best friend”, tweeted another. After pouring you a cup of coffee, it fires its hand out to strangle you, finds a toddler to smash a bottle in their face, and then ignites.

Regardless of whether 2025 brings on the robot uprising that others fear, we’ll still have plenty of humanoid robots to drink from.