[username_my1]

I'm always confused by the need for humanoid robots in heavy industry.

isn't it always easier to build factories machine first ?

same as the idea of building self driving cars enabled tracks with sensors and all instead of trying to resolve self driving cars in the wild.

[ghc]

You're right, which is why factories are already automated that way.

Where humans still reign supreme is in two areas: assembly and work in human-centered environments.

So, it's a lot easier to have a human welder do welding inside a Hyundai-built ship because the interior of the ship is designed for humans to walk around.

Likewise, it's easier for humans to work with machines on assembly, because humans are flexible and assembly lines typically need to be rapidly reconfigured for different production runs.

A purpose-built facility excels at maximizing throughput for mass produced parts (paperclips), but doesn't work well for lower-volume integration tasks (cars, ships, etc.).

[malcolmwhite]

I wouldn't be surprised if a large chunk of this order is for non-humanoids: https://bostondynamics.com/products/stretch/

[falcor84]

I remember an old interview with Musk where he said that when he just got into manufacturing, he would try to automate all the things, but then found that it makes the assembly line overly rigid and difficult to improve, especially when they're still learning about a new assembly process. So he switched to only automating only the obvious parts at start, keeping humans in the loop for every step where it's not entirely clear how best to perform it, and then automate these other steps gradually as they learn.

So I assume that the idea is that humanoid robots could fully replace some of these temporary roles (or allow a single human to operate several robots), maintaining flexibility while a new production line is optimized, and then easily moved off to another.

[fennecbutt]

Pretty sure he was simply informed of all of that and he put himself on a pedestal as the CEO as he's done for countless interviews.

He seems to have a mostly surface level of understanding of what goes on at his companies, which is all a CEO needs. But it doesn't justify all the people I see idolising him as some sort of technical God. I heard he's a master of PoE, too ;)

[falcor84]

Yeah, I suppose that could be true, but I don't think it takes away from the reasoning process and the benefits of holding off on premature full automation.

[fennecbutt]

You build a factory machine. Then the job changes and you need to build an entirely new machine. You offer a new product with a different shape and you need to build an entirely new machine.

Doesn't have to be humanoid specifically but a roaming robot based on biological patterning is so much more capable for retooling.

[whazor]

Boston Dynamics makes other robots as well. I think the key innovation behind their robots is broad applications and easy programming. While making a custom factory robot could take a half year, configuring and installing a Boston Dynamics robot takes days.

[xorokongo]

The APIs where designed for humans, AI learns the world through the spectacles of a human.

[guax]

The appeal is to replace workers by using a generic platform, that when mass produced, costs less and don't require retooling. One human commodity for a mechanical one.

[trgn]

why do they need to _look_ human though? two legs, torso, head, two arms, does a robot need that. Why not just a giant arm (or five whatever) that can roll around?

[stuartjohnson12]

Evolution's optimisation pressure on the humanoid shape has already done a lot of that work for us. Certain instruments like the hand and thumb are very thoroughly refined in humans. On top of that, most interfaces in the world are already designed for humans, so by making a humanoid robot you guarantee it can operate in a superset of environments that a human can.

[delichon]

They explicitly want robots that can replace what humans currently do, in existing human workstations, etc. You don't have to redesign a tractor for a humanoid bot. This is a kind of skeuomorphism but more functional than ornamental.

[usrnm]

There is a lot of machinery that is designed to be operated by humans using their arms and legs, a lot of processes built around it. The appeal of humanoid robots is in the idea that all this stuff wouldn't need to change. Whether or not this is possible remains to be seen

[detourdog]

Hot swappable parts. Any job can be performed by any worker be they human or humanoid.

[fennecbutt]

Marketing.

[0cf8612b2e1e]

Not heavy industry, but here is a video of an automated grocery warehouse: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ssZ_8cqfBlE

If you stick with the human first design, you miss out on enormous potential efficiency gains.