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Your first robot butler will need human eyes
Automatons that clean your house are getting closer to reality, but they will still need people to steer them for several years.
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The paradox of artificial intelligence is that while it can write humanlike essays, machines can still barely walk or pick up a cup.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: PEXELS
Parmy Olson
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I don’t know if you have heard, but the robots are coming. Tesla has one with opposable thumbs called Optimus, and other start-ups like California-based Figure and Norway’s 1X are building walking machines with torsos and arms that can stack goods in warehouses. But to be truly useful in their first years of labour, many of these robots will need to be steered by humans, posing a unique challenge around privacy and marketing for their makers.
Take Alfie. It is the prototype of London start-up Prosper Robotics and looks like a Minecraft character made real: slightly taller than a grown man, bulky and gliding slowly around on wheels. It is also steered by a team of gamers in the Philippines, who wear virtual reality headsets throughout the day to control its movements.
