Is the future fully autonomous? Most likely. Is it a reality yet? No.
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Scroll through the comments from humanoid videos on X, and you’ll see a common misconception, many believe humanoid robots are already fully autonomous, ready to freely navigate the world and make independent decisions. The reality is most are tele-operated. Is the future fully autonomous? Most likely. Is it a reality yet? No. Brett Adcock from Figure recently stated: “Most competitors at this point are putting out most of their content and updates tele-op'd from a human. I think it's perhaps the most deceiving thing I've ever seen.” He is right. The public is largely unaware that humanoids are being controlled by another person. Companies should always be transparent about their tech's actual capabilities. Taking a "fake it till you make it" approach is a risky shortcut, and eventually the truth comes out, as seen in a recent video where someone appeared to be hiding a remote control behind their back. Go read the comments on that video. I even heard someone say they thought a recent humanoid was fully autonomous and how awesome it was, but after finding out it was controlled by a human, they changed their mind and called it a piece of junk. Most people would not want to pay more than a few thousand for a remote-controlled robot. They will, however, pay money to have a robot do chores autonomously. Would you have bought your iRobot if you had to sit there and control it around the house to vacuum? That's a pretty guaranteed no. On a side note, I do see a potential market for tele-operated robot avatars. You could, for example, hire a professional chef to use a humanoid in your home to cook a meal for you. Of course, this introduces a major safety risk, so you must absolutely trust the person you're allowing to control a robot inside your private space. But imagine being able to cook for your frail mother who lives in another state using a robot avatar with tele-operation. How incredible would that be? Follow Bots n' Beans for daily robotics, humanoids, and tech insights. Follow Annin Robotics to build your own AR4 robot. Follow Future of Built for updates on robotics, humanoids, and automation in construction.