Will Humanoid Robots Take Your Job? Challenges, Opportunities, and Timeline
Wed Dec 06 2023
In this episode, I talked with Melonee Wise, CTO of Agility Robotics, about the future of humanoid robots and their potential impact on jobs. We discussed the challenges and opportunities in developing humanoid robots for logistics and manufacturing, as well as the realistic timeline for their widespread adoption.
3 Ideas from the Interview
- Agility's Digit robot specializes in handling totes within warehouses, leveraging its humanoid design for agile movement in confined spaces and adaptive balance control.
- The labor shortage in logistics and manufacturing has grown from 600,000 unfilled jobs in 2014-2016 to over 1 million today, despite the increasing use of robots.
- Melonee predicts that humanoid robots won't be part of our daily lives outside industrial settings for another 20-30 years, with the next 10 years focused on industrial and light industrial environments.
2 Quotes that Stood Out
"One of the advantages of having a dynamically balancing system or a bipedal robot is you can have a relatively small footprint, you can reach relatively high, and you can carry a relatively competitive payload." - Melonee Wise
"I think it's a great time to be a roboticist. This is the, probably the next 50 years are going to be like the heyday of robotics." - Melonee Wise
1 Opportunity
Usability and Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) Platform: Create a platform or conference for companies to share and discuss their usability and HRI work in robotics. As Melonee mentioned, there's a lack of venues for companies to present their findings from real-world deployments with large datasets. This platform could bridge the gap between academic research and industry applications, fostering innovation in making robots more user-friendly and effective in various environments.