In the US alone, there are already several companies racing to create humanoid robots that can be used in various industries as workers. They might be on the right track, especially if experts are to be believed that humanoid robots would solve the global labor shortage.
Humanoid Robots in Development
Some of the companies that have been working on humanoid robots include Tesla, Amazon, Microsoft, and even NVIDIA, and those are just the tech giants in the race. Billions of dollars have already been spent to develop the technology, and it will likely grow more from there.
Some of the humanoid robots are already put to work in warehouses. They bear the labor tasks within operations, which is repetitive work that can easily be programmed. However, they also have a future in other functions as well.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been a strong advocate for the coming age of robot workers, saying that they are "going to transform the world to a degree even greater than the cars," as reported by CNBC, and he might actually be right.
The EV giant is developing its own humanoid robot called Optimus, and it is already showing advanced capabilities compared to how it fared in previous showcases, one of which was just a person inside a robot costume.
Investment baking firm Goldman Sachs' analysis states that the market for humanoid robots can grow up to $38 billion in the next two decades, seeing as they will be the next "must-have" device, likely pointing to it being in the home of an average family.
The AI boom has also been a significant factor in how fast humanoid robots are progressing. With artificial intelligence, the functions that the robots can perform have expanded exponentially, especially since they can now interpret dialogue and accept commands.
CEO and co-founder of startup Apptronik, Jeff Cardenas said that we're "starting in what we call the dull, dirty, dangerous tasks, these tasks where we have big labor shortages today, where we don't have people to do this work."
Japan is Already Doing It
Humanoid robots being used to replace human workers in dangerous situations in not new to Japan. In fact, it is already using a 40-foot humanoid robot to work on train lines, although it's not AI-powered and is controlled by personnel instead.
Used by West Japan Railways and developed by Jinki Ittai Co and Nippon Signal Co, the humanoid robot is attached to a truck, which is where the pit is as well. Workers can control the robot within the vehicle, as mentioned in Interesting Engineering.
The person behind the controls can see what the robot would see through a VR headset, which is connected to the camera mounted on the robot's head. From a distance, the workers are safe from incidents like electric shocks or falling.
The robot provides the ability to lift heavy loads as well, which would usually take more than one employee to carry. The controls allow the operator to lift and maneuver heavy loads like steel pipes plates, and wires.
