Imagine that when you get old, you don't have to worry about no one to take care of you, there is an all-round robot that can help you serve tea and water, buy vegetables and cook, and take care of your daily life.
It will never get bored, it will not think you are dirty, and it will even accompany you to chat, always monitor your vital signs, so that you will not be alone in the house until it stinks and is not discovered by the neighbors...
In recent years, with the increasing prominence of the aging population, pension services are facing unprecedented challenges. In this context, people are starting to wonder whether robots can become a reliable means of providing for the elderly.
Humanoid robots are more acceptable because they are closer to human appearance and behavior, and all of our everyday products can be used directly by humanoid robots. So, is robot pension really reliable? How far is the current technology from robotic elderly care?
Let's take a look at the companies that are currently developing humanoid robots.
1 Boston Dynamics
Speaking of humanoid robots, the most famous is Boston Dynamics' Atlas, which is 1.5 meters tall and weighs 89 kilograms. Atlas is Boston Dynamics' research platform to explore the next generation of humanoid robots in terms of movement, perception, and intelligence. Those who have followed them know that Boston Dynamics' robots are extremely flexible in terms of movement.
The Atlas is still evolving, especially as its balance gets better and better with the iterations, and the most impressive thing is the glimpse backflip
2 Tesla
Tesla, which has a lot of accumulation in the field of autonomous driving, released Tesla's humanoid robot at the 2021 AI Day, and used PPT to depict the main parameters of the humanoid robot in Tesla's mind, but unfortunately no robot prototype was shown at that time, only a real person danced in the robot's coat.
However, Tesla is not really a "PPT makes people", a year later, at AI Day 2022, Musk brought the first generation of robots named Optimus, and it staggered into the venue with its own power:
The original Optimus debuted.
At first glance, it has a sense of "Terminator", and then it looks like a faltering old man, but it is a collection of many cutting-edge technologies used by Tesla in self-driving, and the processor in its chest cavity is the same set of equipment used in Tesla's self-driving.
Another year has passed, and at the end of 2023, the ** of the second generation of Optimus will be quietly launched on Tesla's official website:
Judging from the picture, Optimus Gen2 has flexible hands, fingers stretch flexibly like a real person, 2 degrees of freedom of the neck can allow the robot to turn its head within a certain range, the walking speed is increased by 30%, and it supports foot pressure torque sensing, hinged toes, and the geometry of the human foot, and successfully "**20 catties."
With 11 degrees of freedom, it has 11 degrees of freedom in both hands, making it look particularly flexible, and each finger has a tactile sensor that allows it to make very fine movements, such as pinching eggs
In just one year, Optimus has made such great progress, and people can't help but be amazed, maybe Tesla's robot will give people new surprises in 2024!
3 Fourier
Founded in 2015, Fourier Intelligence is a general robot platform enterprise, headquartered in Shanghai, with the corporate vision of "enabling everyone to enjoy a better life through intelligent technology".
Fourier's humanoid robot, named GR-1, has a highly bionic torso configuration and anthropomorphic motion control, with a maximum of 54 degrees of freedom and a maximum joint peak torque of 230Nm, with fast walking, agile obstacle avoidance, steady downhill, anti-impact interference and other sports functions.
Fourier GR-1 walking.
4 Uki
Unitree is a robotics company in Hangzhou, focusing on the independent research and development, production and sales of consumer-grade and industry-level high-performance general-purpose humanoid robots and dexterous robotic arms.
Unitree's first humanoid robot is named H1 and is about 1 in height8 meters, weighing 47 kg, the H1 has no face and only 3D LiDAR and a depth camera. Judging from the ** on the Internet, H1 has a good balance, and even if it is kicked, it is guaranteed not to fall:
5 Xiaomi
Xiaomi released a humanoid robot named CyberOne in 2022 and successfully sent flowers to Lei Jun's performance.
At present, the biggest highlight of Xiaomi's humanoid robot is that it has a screen on its face, which is used to display various patterns.
6 Stanford University
In January 2024, the IRIS Lab team at Stanford University released Mobile Aloha, a self-learning "housework" robot that can master a task skill with a success rate of up to 90% after only 50 trainings.
In the published **, it can beat eggs:
Fried chicken: Do the housework:
Although their robots aren't humanoid yet, isn't this trainable model very similar to what you're doing with your new babysitter?
Conclusion
At present, the power of most robots is still in balance: walk the road first, and even some robots have problems walking.
A small number of robots have some fine operation functions, but on the whole, it seems that robots still have a long way to go to enter thousands of households, but this is a bright road.
The development of robots and the development of artificial intelligence are inseparable, with the advent of generative large models, the development of artificial intelligence has entered the fast lane, the ability of robots will grow geometrically, and I believe that there will be new surprises in the next few years.