Who remembers the Jetsons? If you do, then you will remember Rosey The Robot. She was one of the most iconic futuristic characters to ever be in a television show. Rosey was a humanoid robot who was the maid and housekeeper for the Jetson family. The show’s debut episode in 1962 was actually called “Rosey The Robot.”
Rosey The Robot was the first thing that came to mind when I saw this video of a humanoid robot (Tesla’s Optimus) folding a shirt.
62 years after the Jetsons debut (September 1962), the thought of humanoid robots helping assist us at work or in our home is becoming a reality. The rapid advancements in AI have accelerated the speed of their development.
Earlier this year when I saw the above video and read the Goldman Sachs note called Humanoid Robot: The AI accelerant I started to get interested about humanoid robots. How close were they to becoming reality? Which companies were going to be the leaders? Is it possible that we could eventually have our own Rosey The Robot in our homes?
The fact is that companies are much farther along on these than I was aware of.
Some of these robots have already produced some rather impressive work. Here are some of what has been shared of Boston Dynamic’s Atlas.
Tesla’s Optimus Gen 2.
Then I also came across this video of Amazon’s robot called Digit.
Just last month we also saw the following headline in Bloomberg about Apple.
Apple Explores Home Robotics as Potential ‘Next Big Thing’ After Car Fizzles
You can read the full story here.
The whole thought experiment has become fascinating to me.
On one hand you have the possibility of robots helping companies where labor is hard to come by. Manufacturing jobs where assembly, lifting and demanding tasks can be replaced by robots. Just look at the Amazon video above.
What value could these present to companies? How fast could they become profitable and pay for themselves?
Unlike humans, a humanoid robot doesn’t need breaks, vacations and they can operate for longer shifts. There are no benefits needed to pay a robot such as health insurance, retirement etc. Their costs would be in maintenance. Very minor when you consider it versus the costs of human labor.
It could make companies even more productive and streamlined. Robots could assume the role and responsibilities that manufactures find as hard to fill or less desirable jobs. These labor shortages are going to continue to increase.
What about the current and upcoming jump in need for elderly care? How badly do you think that industry could use some assistance globally?
The looming worry over having enough workers to fill all the demand for jobs has already started. Since the pandemic, workers to fill the labor demands have been in short supply.
We keep seeing the US birthrate charts and how this will likely continue to be an ongoing concern.
It’s not just in the US either. China is facing the same problem.
What could humanoid robots do for us personally at home? What if there was that Rosey The Robot for your house? Think about that?
What you pay to have a humanoid robot assist you with your household duties? Think of having it clean your house or folding and putting away your clothes?
You could pay to rent one or pay to buy one in full. You could have a Robot as a Service (RaaS) business with reoccurring fees which would provide maintenance and service. Sounds kind of like an Apple business doesn’t it? Or a car company business model like Tesla?
The forecasted global humanoid robot market size is forecasted to be $38 billion by 2035. That’s a giant number when you consider that’s only 11 years away.
I keep going back to this tweet interaction last month between Elon Musk and Jim Fan, who is a senior research scientist and lead of AI Agents Initiative at Nvidia. Remember Nvidia is the leader for all the hardware and software for what AI is running on.
I think it’s safe to say that the humanoid robot technology is much closer than any of us realize. In the not too distant future you may have your own Rosey The Robot in your house.
The Coffee Table ☕
Of all the pieces I read about humanoid robots, the best one I came across was this one which appeared in Rethink. This time, we are the horses: the disruption of labor by humanoid robots
Ever wonder which states have the highest and lowest tax burdens? This is an interesting chart to see where each state lands in 2024.
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