Anyone who's a fan of mecha anime or games already knew this. The human body is a comedy of errors masquerading as a marvel of bioengineering. We're just fish who forgot how to swim and learned how about economics.
this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2025
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I've figured out the swimming again, but I still don't fully understand economics...
No one does and if they say they do they're lying
We're not exactly great at economics too...
But in the short to medium term, there are much more reliable, efficient, and cost-effective platforms that can take over in these situations: robots with arms, but with wheels instead of legs.
I never understood why the first generation of robots can’t just be on wheels. Even if it needs to go up and down stairs often, it’s still easier to have legs just for stairs and resort to wheels all other times.
The article also thinks battery life is an issue. IMO too many things have batteries, why can’t it just rely on a power cord. Sure that won’t work in some situations, but damn it it can fold my laundry.
Yes, more specialized robots for now. When it's harder to build for a human to do the job, build for a robot to do the job.
At some point in the future, it makes sense to combine the features of different types of robots into one form that can step in to human jobs
why can't it just rely on a power cord
Think of it like grandma. She can fold your underwear for you but needs to go sit down every half hour
I mean, we're hundreds if not thousands of iterations into robotics. Hell, we've probably had tens if not hundreds of attempts to create humanoid robots.
This is just the current iteration of humanoid robots getting beaten up for not delivering on its promises.
I do t understand why we can't genetically engineer animals to have wheels. Give me a fucking cheetah with wheels instead of legs please.
Can it hurry up and ruin the AI hype, too?
It is always cheaper to use human labor, where a humanoid form is best suited to do it. Automation is best implemented in situations where the human form doesn't work best.
always
Currently
Yeah, no..."always". Technology like humanoid robots, is never going to get cheap enough to replace low-paid manual labor. That's a marketing lie that tech CEO's like to use, in order to drum up more investment capital.
Considering that humanoid labor often works in tandem with actual automation...the idea of robots using machines to accomplish tasks that a human could just as easily do, with far less overhead..makes no sense.
The only way automation is effective, is when it exceeds the limitations of what the human body can accomplish. Designing it with the same basic limitations doesn't improve on anything.
It's kinda dumb to make predictions about limitations on future technologies. If history is any indicator, predictions of 'impossibilities' almost always turn out mistaken.
That's not to mention that manual labour should not be low cost. But that's an entirely different discussion.
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Yeah, no…“always”. Technology like humanoid robots, is never going to get cheap enough to replace low-paid manual labor.
That's definitely not a rule. Just because so far we managed to keep manual labor dirt cheap doesn't mean it always have to be like that. Tariffs, migration policy, social programs and so on, all affect the cost of labor. Move all the production back to developed countries while limiting immigration and the costs of labor might increase to the point where humanoid robots make sense.
I'm not saying that this will happen, only that we definitely can't say it won't.
The only thing that makes manual labor worth more, is demand. And adding more competition to the market does the opposite of that. If anything, robots will make human labor even cheaper. And that will only get worse, the cheaper the robots get.
Same goes for every other factor you listed. All of those things add cost to a business's bottom line. Where they will inevitably try to claw back some of those losses, are labor costs. "Sorry, but due to overhead constraints, this is the best I can offer you. Take it or leave it". And in an economy that's under pressure, people will take whatever they can get.
The only thing that makes manual labor worth more, is demand.
Ever heard about supply?
The overhead on the robot is mostly maintenance, which is a humanoid skill. If the robots can maintain each other, or build each other, someone just won capitalism
Over time, maintenance costs on machines tend to increase. They all have a practical limit on profitability, before that cost exceeds their contributive value. Then they need to be replaced.
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I didn't know we were in the presence of a psychic with a crystal ball!
My mistake, you're right about everything!
Why do we even want humanoid robots?
The same thing that made phones bigger, bandwidth wider, and probably one of the biggest uses of AI.
Horny people want sex without other people. In this case, sexbots.
Isn't that what masturbation is for?
Why masturbate yourself like a peon, when you can spend $500000 to? And get a free Florence Pugh voice to “avenge” your crusaders?
You make a good point (looking at my bank account and seeing that I still can only afford tissues and hand lotion from Dollar Tree).
outside of sex robots I don't see any reason. I always though robosimian made a lot of sense. I think all its limbs were grasp and movement capable so it could stand or run on all fours or climb or whatever but its been awhile since I saw it. I assume if done nowadays it could be that much more versatile.
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