I’m convinced the robot revolution is finally here.
I was at the world’s largest electronics exhibition Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, where engineers have for decades claimed that commercially available humanoids were just around the corner.
But this was the year that their predictions finally appeared to be close to reality.
This was especially clear when I interacted with a robot that moved and danced with human-like fluidity—stepping one leg in front of the other and swaying naturally to maintain balance.
Rounding a corner, I met another who could lift and stack boxes just like an Amazon worker. And then I was bombarded with clips by inventors of their robots doing everything from the laundry to cooking and picking up a bag.
There was even a robot that looked like it could be a half-decent human companion, even though its movements made it appear inebriated.
At his keynote speech, the multibillionaire NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, who is making an AI agent — a program that can take simple directions to complete a task — said: ‘The ChatGPT moment for general robotics is just around the corner.’
He’s referring to the Eureka moment that happened in 2023 when AI seemed to, out of nowhere, burst into our everyday lives.
And I have to agree, we’re about to see the same thing with robots.
Reporter Luke Andrews pictured walking with the SA01 from EngineAI. The robot is being purchased by research institutions and universities for use testing algorithms
The company has also developed the human-looking PM01 (front) and SE01 (back). They can lift 20lbs and are about the third of a price of a car, at $13,700
The ChatGPT moment obviously didn’t just come out of nowhere.
Start-ups had quitely been spending billions, trillions, of dollars for decades to perfect the technology, funded by giants like Microsoft, Apple and Elon Musk’s Tesla.
But it was thrust onto the scene when ChatGPT’s user-friendly and human-like conversational abilities were made freely accessible, bringing AI to the lives of millions for the first time.
Within two months of its release, Chat had 100million users — making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history.
For comparison, TikTok had just 6million users two months after its US launch in 2018 — while Facebook, which appeared in 2004, gained just 50,000 users in two months.
I think we may now be in the same place with robots — and the big reason for that is the price.
Engine.AI’s humanoid robot that could carry groceries, do the laundry, cooking or cleaning is priced at $13,700.
My jaw nearly hit the floor when I heard that. It’s about a third of the $49,000 price tag for an average family car, and well below the hundreds-of-thousands normally associated with these robots. Add to that mass production, and costs could be even lower.
The above are two photos of the SA01 taken while the device was walking forwards. It mimics the bipedal motion of humans
And while I can’t see people in my generation, Millennials, forking out for that in the next few years — I can see older people taking the plunge.
About one in three older adults are lonely, surveys suggest, while 49 percent have arthritis — giving them achy joints making it difficult to do daily tasks like carry heavy bags or tend to a weed-swamped garden.
A metallic robot could become their full-time carer, being cheaper than the human alternative and possibly also providing a level of company. It may even help them to stay in their homes for longer.
It could also have a revolutionary impact on the care sector, which is regularly struggling with staffing shortages. In the UK, one in ten positions in the sector go unfilled.
Care companies or Governments could buy the robots and assign them to patients in care homes, helping to care for patients 24/7 and reducing the strain on the workforce.
Older adults are also open to the idea of being cared for by a robot, with 40 to 60 percent saying they would consider this in surveys.
Some humanoid robots — like Pepper and Paro — have already been deployed in nursing homes in Japan, helping to entertain, start conversations and build emotional connections.
Although the robots are not quite at the point of providing personal assistance care 24/7 to patients, they are certainly not far off.
Engine.AI’s staff told me that their robot could certainly do all these home tasks — but only once it has the right programming.
I suspect that, with the advent of AI, this now is not far away.
The robot I walked and danced with was the SA01, developed by China-based EngineAI and which costs $5,300.
Its inventor said it had been bought by several universities already for research purposes.
They also suggested that, with a camera put on top, it could work as a security guard for warehouses.
It would do that by patrolling around a warehouse in the evening, and quickly sending alerts to human security guards if it detected a thief approaching.
He also showed me the SE01 and PM01 sold by the company — priced at $13,700 — which have arms and can lift objects up to 20lbs, making them perfect for household chores and the family shopping.
I also ran into the Casbot 01 made in China — which has a human-like appearance and dextrous five-finger hands.
Its inventors told me how the machine was already been used in factories, with its fingers making it ideal for placing parts into the motherboards of laptops.
They only bought a model to the show, however, but said they would bring an actual robot next year.
And downstairs, I met the Unitree G1 humanoid robot which can walk just like a human — and at four foot one inch looks a bit like a human child.
Sam Altman’s OpenAI-backed 1X revealing late last year that its own version — Neo — had now been sent to homes for testing.
The robot will be helping with daily tasks they said, such as wiping tables or picking up bags for humans.
And Elon Musk’s Tesla is also moving forward with plans for its own humanoid robot, called Optimus, that could be used for dangerous tasks in the carmakers’ factories this year.
Musk himself has previously predicted there could be 10billion humanoid robots in use globally by 2040, each costing $20,000 to $25,000.
Last year, he also called them a ‘fundamental transformation for civilization’ that would contribute to a ‘future of abundance’.
It’s starting to look like the predictions of ‘I, Robot’, set in Chicago in 2035 and where almost everyone has a robot — may be oddly prescient.
