{"id":109002,"date":"2024-08-21T00:02:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-20T22:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ocean4future.org\/savetheocean\/?p=109002"},"modified":"2024-08-15T18:15:38","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T16:15:38","slug":"elon-musks-tesla-is-promising-to-sell-a-humanoid-robot-it-could-be-the-first-of-many","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ocean4future.org\/savetheocean\/archives\/109002","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk\u2019s Tesla is promising to sell a humanoid robot. It could be the first of\u00a0many"},"content":{"rendered":"tempo di lettura: <\/span> 8<\/span> minuti<\/span><\/span>

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ARGOMENTO: SVILUPPI DELLA SCIENZA<\/span><\/strong>
\nPERIODO: XXI SECOLO<\/span><\/strong>
\nAREA: ROBOTICA<\/span><\/strong>
\nparole chiave: Umanoidi
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Elon Musk<\/strong><\/span>\u2019s recent announcement on Twitter that \u201cTesla will have genuinely useful<\/strong> humanoid robots in low production for Tesla internal use next year<\/strong><\/em><\/span>\u201d suggests t<\/span>hat robots that have physical human-like characteristics and provide \u201cgenuinely useful\u201d function<\/span><\/strong> might be with us soon<\/span><\/strong>. However, despite decades of trying, useful humanoid robots have remained a fiction that never seems to quite catch up with reality. Are we finally on the crux of a breakthrough? It\u2019s relevant to question whether we really need humanoid robots at all.<\/p>\n

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Tesla\u2019s Optimus robot.<\/span><\/strong>
\nKittyfly \/ Shutterstock<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Steve Benford<\/a>, University of Nottingham<\/a><\/em> and Praminda Caleb-Solly<\/a>, University of Nottingham<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tesla\u2019s Optimus robot<\/span> <\/strong>is just one of several emerging humanoid robots, joining the likes of <\/span>Boston Dyanmic\u2019s Atlas<\/a>, <\/span>Figure AI\u2019s Figure 01<\/a>, <\/span>Sanctuary AI\u2019s Phoenix<\/a> and many others. They usually take the form of a bipedal platform that is variously capable of walking and sometimes, jumping, along with other athletic feats. On top of this platform a pair of robot arms and hands may be mounted that are capable of manipulating objects with varying degrees of dexterity and tactility. <\/span>Behind the eyes lies artificial intelligence tailored to planning navigation, recognising objects and carrying out tasks with these objects. The most commonly envisaged <\/span>uses for such robots are in factories<\/a>, carrying out repetitious, dirty, dull and dangerous tasks, and working alongside humans, collaboratively, carrying a ladder together for example. <\/span>They are also proposed for work in <\/span>service industry roles<\/a>, perhaps replacing the current generation of more utilitarian \u201cmeet and greet\u201d and <\/span>\u201ctour guide\u201d<\/a> service robots. They could possibly be used in social care, where there have been attempts to lift and move humans, <\/span>like the Riken Robear<\/a> (admittedly this was <\/span>more bear than humanoid<\/a>), and to deliver personal care and therapy.<\/span><\/p>\n

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There is also a more established and growing market in humanoid sex robots. Interestingly, while many people recognise the moral and ethical issues related to these, the use of humanoid robots in other areas seems to attract less controversy. It is, however, proving challenging to deliver humanoid robots in practice. Why should this be so? There are numerous engineering challenges, such as achieving flexible bipedal locomotion on different terrain. It took humans about four million years to achieve this, so where we are now with humanoid robots is pretty impressive. But humans learn to combine a complex set of sensing capabilities to achieve this feat. Similarly, achieving the dexterous manipulation of objects, which come in all shapes, sizes, weights, levels of fragility, is proving stubborn with robots. There has been significant progress, though, such as the dexterous hands from UK company Shadow Robot<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Compared to the human body that is covered in a soft and flexible skin that continuously senses and adapts to the world, robots\u2019 tactile capabilities are limited to only a few points of contact such as finger tips. Moving beyond automating specific tasks on factory assembly lines to improvising general tasks in a dynamic world demands greater progress in artificial intelligence as well as sensing and mechanical capabilities. Finally, if you are going to make a robot look human, then there is an expectation that it would also need to communicate with us like a human, perhaps even respond emotionally<\/a>. However, this is where things can get really tricky, because if our brains, which have evolved to recognise non-verbal elements of communication, don\u2019t perceive all the micro-expressions<\/a> that are interpreted at a subconscious level, the humanoid robot can come across as positively creepy. These are just a few of the major research challenges that are already taxing communities of researchers in robotics and human-robot interaction across the globe. There\u2019s also the additional constraint of deploying humanoid robots in our ever-changing noisy real world, with rain, dust and heat. These are very different conditions to the ones they\u2019re tested in. So shouldn\u2019t we focus on building systems that are more robust and won\u2019t succumb to the same pitfalls that humans do?<\/p>\n

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