Why is the whole world jumping on to humanoid robots? What am I not seeing that requires this level of investment in it?

▲

jameslk 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The great aging of working populations:

China: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Populati...

Japan: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Japan_po...

South Korea: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/South_Ko...

United States: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/US_Popul...

Europe: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Europe_p...

Also the technology carries over to defense purposes

And then there’s the fact that tremendous investment is going into all things AI, and now hard tech

▲

kart23 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

automating repetitive physical work doesn’t appeal to you?

	▲	scheme271 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Sure, but I'm not sure humanoid robots is the best form factor for this. E.g. something with a wheeled base makes movement calculations a lot easier since you don't need to deal with balance while moving.

▲

DennisP 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

For the optimistic case, read this piece by RethinkX:

https://www.rethinkx.com/blog/rethinkx/the-disruption-of-lab...

(Fwiw, >20 years ago RethinkX correctly projected the exponential cost declines of solar and batteries, when everybody else was drawing straight lines.)

	▲	protocolture 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> Humanoid robots will enter the market at a cost-capability of under $10/hour for their labor, on a trajectory to under $1/hour before 2035 and under $0.10/hour before 2045. I dont see it, unless this is an expectation that a robot will work for 50 years without maintenance at capex. Why doesnt a comparable tool, like an excavator, work with this math? Why arent they 100 times cheaper to run than 20 years ago? Excavators can cost 50 - 100k pa in maintenance and fuel costs. Why does creating a multifunction tool, with even finer tolerances, working in human safe workspaces cost less?
	▲	2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		[deleted]

▲

Aerroon 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

All current jobs have human input and output interfaces. If you want to sell new technology then it will be easiest to accommodate the already existing infrastructure.

▲

cesarvarela 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The expected value is "infinite".

▲

6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

[deleted]

▲

stogot 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

They can sell “employees” who don’t require salaries, onboarding, healthcare, 401k, benefits, etc and then leave after two years of being lazy and try to sue you. (This is how it will be marketed)

	▲	anigbrowl 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Economies like South Korea and Japan have a drastic population deficit that means there are simply not enough people around to perform many kinds of manual labor tasks.

▲

SecretDreams 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Sex bots and disposable police. This is basically the future in every dystopian SciFi these politicians and oligarchs grew up watching. This is just living out fantasy.