- Title: What's next for AI-powered humanoid robots?
- Date: 26th November 2024
- Summary: NANCY, FRANCE (NOVEMBER 22, 2024) (Reuters) CLOSE OF FACE OF ROBOT DEVELOPED BY ENCHANTED TOOLS, ON DISPLAY AT IEEE-RAS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HUMANOID ROBOTS HUMANOID ROBOT DEVELOPED BY FOURIER, WAVING TO PASSERSBY CLOSE OF ROBOT'S HEAD VARIOUS OF ROBOTS ON DISPLAY / ENGINEERS WORKING WIDE OF SERENA IVALDI, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AT THE INRIA CENTRE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LORRAINE, SEATED WITH HUMANOID ROBOT (SOUNDBITE) (English) SERENA IVALDI, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AT THE INRIA CENTRE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LORRAINE, SAYING: "So, traditionally humanoid robots were conceived with the traditional robotic mechatronics techniques. In the last year there has been a revolution in the actuation and in some mechatronics components. And so the robots now are more robust and more efficient, more performing. And also the cost has decreased, which enables more companies, more labs to produce new prototypes. And so we are really witnessing a huge revolution and a huge increase in the number of startups and a number of companies that produce new platforms." VARIOUS OF PERSON INTERACTING WITH HUMANOID ROBOT BUILT BY IIT-ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA (ITALIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY) AND INAIL (ITALIAN WORKER’S COMPENSATION AUTHORITY) VARIOUS OF UNITREE H1 ROBOT ON DISPLAY VARIOUS OF UNITREE QUADRUPED ROBOT DOG / ROBOT FALLS OVER AND IS PICKED UP (SOUNDBITE) (English) SERENA IVALDI, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AT THE INRIA CENTRE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LORRAINE, SAYING: "I think with the new AI methods that are now developed that do image processing, language processing; we are going to see robots that are more and more interactive, that they can understand our instructions and then translate them into plans, actions. But also that they can understand new actions on the fly and new actions that are explained by the humans on the fly. And this is new. Right now in the AI domain, there is a lot of work that is done with the pre-trained models that start from a lot of example, a lot of demonstrations. But I think it's not that far at the moment where the AI methods will exhibit the generalization capacity that enables the robot to do new stuff that is explained on the fly without having demonstrations." ICUB ROBOT DEVELOPED BY IIT-ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA (ITALIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY) VARIOUS OF PERSON HANDING ICUB A CUBE (SOUNDBITE) (English) AGNIESZKA WYKOWSKA, PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR, IIT-ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA (ITALIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY), SAYING: "Limits in terms of intelligence; well, I guess at this moment, as what I just mentioned, is being naturally in real time able to respond to the environment, to the human and act in complex environments like home, for example, or clinical setting, like where we are. So I think this is still a big challenge and we're very far away from making robots fully autonomous to be able to interact with humans in such a way." PERSON INTERACTING WITH ROBOT UNITREE HUMANOID ROBOT WALKING / WAVING VARIOUS OF QUADRUPED ROBOT DOG CALLED 'VISION 60' DEVELOPED BY U.S. COMPANY GHOST ROBOTICS AND BEING MARKETED IN FRANCE BY VIGILANT SOLUTION QUADRUPED ROBOT WALKING MONITORING DEVICE HELD BY ENGINEER SHOWING QUADRUPED ROBOT MORE OF QUADRUPED ROBOT WALKING HUMANOID ROBOT FROM PAL ROBOTICS ON DISPLAY VARIOUS OF STAR WARS DROID ROBOT BUILT BY DISNEY RESEARCH INTERACTING WITH VISITORS (SOUNDBITE) (English) SERENA IVALDI, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AT THE INRIA CENTRE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LORRAINE, SAYING: "If the pace of building robots and improving their performance and decreasing the costs continues with the same trend of this last year, maybe in five, ten years we can see like robots that are really cheap and that you can buy and they can do stuff. But honestly, I don't know if it's going to be the same price of a car or something that everybody has or something that is more shared, like a tool that is in some places that then you can share. But I don't know if there will be a personal use." VERO ROBOT QUADRUPED BUILT BY IIT-ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA (ITALIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY), SUCKING UP CIGARETTE BUTT SCREEN SHOWING COMPUTER CODE VARIOUS OF ROBOT USING A DISHWASHER (SOUNDBITE) (English) SERENA IVALDI, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AT THE INRIA CENTRE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LORRAINE, SAYING: "My view is that the robots are a piece of technology that are there to improve our lives, make our lives easier, better, healthier. And I only see the positive side, but I'm aware that there are people that can also misuse the technology. But it's always the same thing in every object that you have in your life. You can also find a way to misuse - if you have a hammer, you can use it to repair something, but you can also use it to hurt somebody. At the end, it's the human choice. But I know that we are creating a technology with the AI, with robots that can be easily misused and can also create bad things in a sense. But I don't want to see this... I know that there is but I only use technologies for doing things for the public." VARIOUS OF ROBOT FROM IIT BEING TELEOPERATED BY SOMEONE NEARBY
- Embargoed: 10th December 2024 07:49
- Keywords: AI DISNEY RESEARCH IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots IIT Italian Institute of Technology artificial intelligence humanoid robots robots
- Location: NANCY, FRANCE
- City: NANCY, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Europe,Information Technologies / Computer Sciences,Science
- Reuters ID: LVA001237825112024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:The humanoid robot market looks set to explode in the coming years, with companies vying to be the first to get a viable android into our daily lives.
At the recent International Conference on Humanoid Robotics in Nancy, France, over 30 companies as well at research institutions showcased their latest robots.
"In the last year there has been a revolution in the actuation and in some mechatronics components. And so the robots now are more robust and more efficient, more performing," Serena Ivaldi, Director of Research at the Inria Centre at the University of Lorraine, told Reuters.
She added how engineering costs had fallen, allowing a rise in the machines being developed by global start-ups.
Moreover, the merging of AI and engineering is also significantly advancing the field of humanoid robotics. Engineers design robots to mimic human form and movement, while AI provides the 'brainpower', enabling these machines to learn from their environment, make decisions, and perform complex tasks.
"With the new AI methods that are now developed that do image processing, language processing; we are going to see robots that are more and more interactive, that they can understand our instructions and then translate them into plans, actions," said Ivaldi.
These advancements have the potential to revolutionize numerous industries, such as healthcare to disaster response.
However, Professor Agnieszka Wykowska from Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) cautioned that it might still be a way off.
"Limits, in terms of intelligence.... being naturally, in real time, able to respond to the environment, to the human and act in complex environments like home, for example, or clinical setting," Wykowska said.
"So I think this is still a big challenge and we're very far away from making robots fully autonomous to be able to interact with humans in such a way."
Nevertheless, the largest tech companies — Microsoft, Google, Meta, Amazon, and Nvidia — are investing billions in adopting AI. Funding of AI and cloud companies in the U.S., Europe, and Israel is estimated to hit $79.2 billion by the end of 2024, according to venture capital firm Accel.
Multiple startups are foraying into the robotic AI space, including Vicarious, which was acquired by Alphabet-owned Intrinsic in 2022, Universal Robots, Seegrid, and Covariant.
Elon Musk said in October 2024 that there will be at least 10 billion humanoid robots priced between $20,000 and $25,000 by 2040.
(Production: Matt Stock) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None