The world’s fixation with technological advancements and AI is leading them to make humanoid robots that will soon be doing your house chores for you.
What would be the biggest market for a physical product? Are you still thinking about cars or property or even mobile phones? Well, according to the chief executive of Sanctuary AI, Geordie Rose says that soon a new product will come into the market that will roll out all the giants and it has already started. A Vancouver-based firm is developing a humanoid robot that is called Phoenix. After completing, the robot will be able to understand how the world works, and what we want and mostly will have the skill set to carry out our regular commands. Rose says, “The long-term total addressable market is the biggest one that’s ever existed in the history of business and technology – which is the labor market. It’s all of the things we want done”.
Even though Geordie Rose is not ready to put a time frame on when the robot might be ready to be in your house, others say it could be ready in just 10 years. Several other firms in the whole world report that they are also working on the technology. One of them is Dyson from the UK which is investing in AI and robotics, both of which are aimed at household chores. However, probably the most high-profile company in this race is Elon Musk’s electric car company, Tesla. Musk says that the company is working on the ‘Optimus humanoid robot’ that could be ready for the public in just a few years.
Mr. Rose has previously founded a quantum computing company and has a background in theoretical physics. He says, “Ten years at the pace the technology is moving now is an eternity. You know, every month, there’s new developments in the AI world that are like fundamental change”.
The mainstream interest in AI has been developing for quite a few years but it completely broke last year with a powerful version of ChatGPT. The AI can generate useful text and image content of all sorts. However, it is entirely virtual where the humanoid robot will be completing tasks in the real, physical world which is difficult and will take time to develop. Tasks that seem too easy to humans can mean great deals for robots. Phoenix has already been put up to a trial project Sanctuary’s robot Phoenix had to pack clothes in plastic bags but failed. But when given time, they can get used to these tasks and ideas and who knows soon they would do the household chores better than us!
But if these technical challenges can be mitigated, humanoid robots can soon be taking jobs that are currently done by humans! The chief executive of the National Robotarium, Stewart Miller says, “We will go through some growing pains. But when we think about it, we can start emphasizing and concentrating on what human beings do best – freeing up that capacity to do that, and not having to spend time doing what machines are best doing.”
