We’ve all had fears about it, right? That one day robots will come in and takeover the world?
Well we could be getting that much closer, as one expert has predicted robotic butlers will be a common toy for the super rich by 2030.
Right now, humanoids are making great strides (or sometimes, falling over), but are still not quite ready for mass adoption.
The chief executive of a company which makes robots used in warehouses across the world says this is about to change, however.
Romain Moulin, the founder of Exotec, told Metro that within five years, those with enough money to spare will have robots to wipe their floors and maybe even fold their laundry.
It won’t be because they are so good at the job, though: ‘It’s mostly for bragging to your friends,’ he said.
They will be an expensive novelty at first, and will work for far less time than Jeeves could before taking a break.
‘I think the first one we’ll see will be like a Roomba,’ Romain said. ‘It will be sitting in a corner of the room. You will have some friends over and you will tell that humanoid robot, “Please clean my floor.”
‘It will pick up a broom and start cleaning, and then will go back and sit on his chair charging, because he has ten minutes of autonomy. That stuff has high power consumption.’
At a push, developments in battery tech might let it keep going for 20 minutes, but ultimately it’s not going to last longer than a cordless vacuum.
Romain’s company makes the Skypod robot, a functional piece of tech serving companies including Gap, Carrefour, Uniqlo and Decathlon.
He thinks that when it comes to warehouses, humanoid robots are destined for the scrapheap.
‘Nobody has a convincing answer on why you would have legs instead of wheels for an industrial environment,’ he said.
‘Why would you want legs on a flat concrete floor? You will save half of your robot price by removing them.’
He isn’t convinced that humanoid robots are the answer for companies trying to be more efficient.
By replicating the shape of a person, they’re optimising something ‘to run in the bush and pick apples in the trees’ because humans were built for prehistoric survival, not packing parcels.
But he does admit they are more useful in places where humans tend to be, such as hospitals, restaurants, or houses.
Bringing a robot home isn’t simple, though, as it’s a much less regimented environment.
‘Payload, autonomy, and safety are the biggest challenges,’ Romain explained.
‘If you increase the performance of your robot and you want it to lift heavier things, you are creating more chance to hurt someone.’
He said that for a robot to be able to stand and walk around, its legs would have to weigh some 40kg, which is already enough power to do damage.
Do you want a robot housekeeper?
Humanoid robots are becoming more and more high profile, made by companies such as Tesla, which says their Optimus model will be ‘capable of performing tasks that are unsafe, repetitive or boring’.
This robot is expected to cost around $20,000, but Romain guessed that fully functioning humanoid robot capable of doing household tasks independently would be more like $200,000.
While we’re fascinated by robots that look like us, they are more complicated to programme than a box on wheels.
Balancing is a particular issue, and if it goes wrong it can lead to disturbing scenes like this robot ‘going berserk’ in a Chinese workshop.
Romain says this is likely to have been down to its sensors realising it was still not stable, so making bigger and bigger ‘crazy’ moves to try and fix the problem in a feedback loop.
AI has allowed big advancements in robotics, as it is used to power their independent navigation.
This is how Evri were able to test out a robotic dog to deliver parcels, and UK farmers have also embraced the tech with robot fruit pickers.
You may not interact with them much yet, still, but they could become as commonplace as touchscreens for food orders soon.
He said that he is concerned about the changes that are coming to the jobs market, with humanoid robots able to take on most unskilled work within 20 years, and computers just ‘working alone’ in offices.
‘One human then will do the job of five humans now,’ he said.
Even though Romain works with robots them every day, though, he won’t be putting a butler on preorder.
‘I prefer human relations,’ he said.
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