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Chinese State Grid starts using humanoid robots to man power distribution stations

18 comments

  • why do they have to be humanoid? Seems a bit unnecessary. The boston dynamics dog with an arm on it's back could do the same job, no?

    • The vast majority of infrastructure is made for humanoids, so having humanoid robots using what we have is much simpler. And then, when building new things with and for robot workers then they can be co-developed with non humanoid robots for maximum efficiency.

      • That's my thinking as well, also humanoid robots are very versatile and that allows a single robot to handle many different jobs. If you make purpose built robots, then you have to design one for each specific task.

      • The assumption that we need to strive for human-like design isn't really accurate. Maybe in the future, but right now the amount of energy and effort required for bipedal balance and movement is not worth it for the very minor advantages of such machines. Being upright and bipedal is a huge engineering headache that we're barely managing to cope with in robots today, which simply isn't needed for most tasks. Neverminded having 5 fully operable digits, which even humans really only need when playing musical instruments. I'm not doubting the potential, I'm just skeptical about this particular implementation when there are way cheaper and more convenient/logical options around. Seems a little PR stunt-y.

    • The dog robot was objectively better than the humanoid robot back when the humanoid robot couldn't walk unless the floor was completely smooth. The humanoid robots can walk now, and they can do an increasing number of tasks in a work space designed for humans without needing hardware additions.

      The dogs still win out in terms of speed and agility for the moment, but working in a power plant I think if the situation calls for speed and agility it's time for the human supervisors to step in.

  • Honestly, looks and feels like how I do after half a day so I give it a pass. Looks like it's getting ready to go out for a cigarette at any moment.

18 comments