Artificial intelligence is on everyone’s lips, because nothing fascinates people more than things that are human-like. A car front that resembles a friendly face, an animal that shows human-like empathy, or a robot that shows childlike-cute emotions.
No wonder AI tools like ChatGPT fire the imagination, amaze us and scare us at the same time. But we get used to these things more quickly than we think and unconsciously wait for the next “toy“. And this could come sooner than we think, because thanks to generative AI, technical progress in a number of other disciplines is also accelerating.
We have already moved on from stand-alone AI to autonomous AI, or AI assistants, which make themselves useful when integrated with other software. For example, as a programming aid in software development environments, or in the Office package, where e-mails are summarized and used to create presentations and newsletters. Or as a travel planner that automatically postpones the return flight by two days and also extends the hotel and rental car.
However, just 19 months after OpenAI launched ChatGPT, we already have the first integration of such large language models with robots. AI is given a body and thanks to the way these systems learn and the knowledge and control they bring with them, robots can learn new functions much more quickly and grasp the context in which they move.
The following video from Sunnyvale-based startup Figure shows their robot Figure 01 with a ChatGPT integration interacting with a human, communicating and explaining the context.
The startup has published several other impressive videos showing the robot performing other tasks. And they are not the only ones. A dozen other companies are working on two-handed and two-legged humanoid robots that could be equipped with large language models to perform tasks with astonishing skill. Here is a partial list of these manufacturers:
- Boston Dynamics
- Tesla Optimus
- Unitree Robotics
- Fourier Intelligence
- Neura Robotics
- Agility Robotics
- UBTECH Robotics
- Apptronik
- Astribot
- Sanctuary AI
- K-Scale Labs
- Kengoro
One of these videos of Tesla and their Optimus Bot shows it performing some activities and moving around the building.
Boston Dynamic, who have been showing fascinating videos of all kinds of robots for years, have unveiled a new humanoid robot, the New Atlas.
Or here the Unitree H1 robot:
Ford and Agility Robotics have shown a video of the Digital robot delivering parcels.
Astribot’s robot, on the other hand, is shown folding laundry, pulling tablecloths from under glasses, stacking cups and sorting objects.
Sanctuary AI also brings AI into its robots.
The video of Eureka! published by Nvidia shows how quickly such robots can learn tasks thanks to artificial intelligence, in which the robot hand teaches itself to skillfully juggle a pen.
Speaking of speed: Robot Era from China is presenting the fastest two-legged robot:
With the progress that has been made in such a short space of time, we can expect such robotic helpers to support us in the household, in care or in the workplace very soon. And this draws attention to an important aspect: safe interaction between humans and robots. In large farms today, such robots are kept behind bars so that they do not come into contact with humans, whom they cannot recognize or feel. These two-legged and two-handed robots, on the other hand, are designed to move in the same space as humans. This means that they must have sensors that recognize people in time to avoid injuring them.
However, the sensors commonly used today are too error-prone and too expensive, which is why other approaches are needed. And one of these could be one discussed here some time ago: cell-cultured tissue that is applied to the robots and acts as an artificial tissue with nerves and can therefore recognize touch or temperature differences.
Some science fiction films have already addressed this, such as A.I., Blade Runner or Terminator, which deal with humanoid machines that have artificial tissue on the outside and are indistinguishable from humans. The robot thus becomes a transrobot, more human-like and life-like. At what point should such a living being have rights and can we simply switch off (and thus kill) such machines? There are some interesting questions coming up…
I also recently sat down with Frauke Holzmeier and Andres Laukat from RTL+ on their podcast So techt Deutschland, where we talked about this development. Have a listen.
