REMINDER: there's an ongoing Robotics/AI arms race with economic implications far exceeding the Industrial Revolution

Question

REMINDER: there's an ongoing Robotics/AI arms race with economic implications far exceeding the Industrial Revolution

REMINDER: there's an ongoing Robotics/AI arms race with economic implications far exceeding the Industrial Revolution.

uscc.gov/sites/default/files/2024-10/Humanoid_Robots.pdf

institute.bankofamerica.com/content/dam/transformation/next-gen-tech-robots.pdf
goldmansachs.com/pdfs/insights/pages/gs-research/global-automation-humanoid-robot-the-ai-accelerant/report.pdf
citigroup.com/global/insights/the-rise-of-ai-robots

People keep asking: Who's going to take these 3rd world jobs that are being forcefully domesticated via tariffs. Picrel. Almost all of the major tech conglomerates have been spending billions of USD within the past couple of years on not only AI but also robotics R&D

US Secretary of Commerce acknowledging upcoming use of robotics within US domestic manufacturing:
youtube.com/shorts/38R81esuNEs

Note how he comments on the equivalent of 100,000 jobs being reduced to 10,000 overseeing robotic systems

People are being psyop'd into thinking AI is a nothingburger. The reality is we don't need "superintelligence", ASI/AGI. All we need is human parity ONLY in the domains that are required for physical labor, factory jobs, low wage jobs (cashier, etc) in order for commercialized humanoid robotics to be a viable economic alternative to the existing human workforce.

Realize that this is just the beginning. AI integrated robotics will penetrate all existing sectors as optimization of production/costs lower cost of entry and AI systems become more adept at generalized tasks.

Major emerging Humanoid Robotics companies:

-Figure AI (recently parted with OpenAI, still backed by MSFT)
Partnership with BMW for factory manufacturing:
youtube.com/watch?v=WoXCHr1IaTM
bmwgroup.com/en/news/general/2024/humanoid-robots.html
Sorting tasks - youtube.com/watch?v=f6ChFc8eUuo

-Apptronik (powered by Google DeepMind with direct investments from Google amongst others)
Intention on industrial applications:
Manufacturing: apptronik.com/industries/manufacturing
Retail: apptronik.com/industries/retail
3PL: apptronik.com/industries/3pl
Mercedes-Benz Partnership:
reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/mercedes-benz-takes-stake-robotics-maker-apptronik-tests-robots-factories-2025-03-18/
youtube.com/watch?v=9IBnBXh4kSw

-TeslaBot
Plans for internal use at Tesla Factories: reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-have-humanoid-robots-internal-use-next-year-musk-says-2024-07-22/
-Boston Dynamics (Hyundai)
hyundai.com/worldwide/en/brand-journal/mobility-solution/hyundai-boston-dynamics
bostondynamics.com/news/boston-dynamics-hyundai-motor-group-expand-collaboration-drive-mobility-manufacturing-innovation/

"Atlas, the electric humanoid robot, will also be deployed at HMGMA [Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America] in the future."

youtube.com/watch?v=Q6Ka0a3iQGQ

-Ubitech
Apple factory partnership: scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3294903/chinese-robotics-maker-ubtech-aims-revolutionise-apple-supplier-foxconns-manufacturing
youtube.com/watch?v=UCt7qPpTt-g

-Unitree (It's humanoid G1 model can literally do a fucking side flip youtube.com/watch?v=29xLWhqME2Q)
Great Wall Motor (GWM) - Chinese EV manufacturing partnership:
news.metal.com/newscontent/103267494/great-wall-motor-unitree-robotics-team-up-to-boost-integration-of-ai-robotics-in-auto-field

Friendly reminder that AGI/ASI is inevitable and robots will wirelessly connect to the AGI/ASI mainframe.

We are here.

There’s insane money going into this shit and new stuff coming out almost daily but r/biz is a bunch of fat retarded monkeys that prefer to play with their jingling keys bing bing wahoo shitcoins than actually research and invest

it's very interesting, though i'm skeptical it has the dexterity to replace everything

Humanoid is probably a meme, but specialized machines aren't. The hype is a cloak.

omg!!!! it can’t do a back flip

I will give a shit when I single one of these flailing crash test dummies can do a 9/5 job. they can’t even pull cookies out of the oven or use a vacuum without spazzing out

Do you guys think AI will advance enough to DM for me with holograms. I don’t have friends to play pathfinder with me

chainlink powers this

Plz answer you seem smart (DM means dungeon master)

finally, a high IQ thread, this is the macro reason all this is happening
purely who manufactures the robots and holds the AI data centers will rule the world, it's really that simple.

i read a research paper one time that said the ai and the robots aren't ever coming, sorry chud

exporting labor to cheap workers is over, domestic robotic labor is the new world economy, the US is racing to domesticate manufacturing for this reason alone.

And with what money are the consumers/companies going to use to mass-purchase these robots? Biden left us with a healthy spic reserve to not only replace American citizens but now advanced robots. You think Boston Dynamics in a year is gonna go "Ok guys line up $200,000 each!" and people will Brazil-style stomp on each other to take out loans for it? No nigga in 1 year the recession will have been officially called and most people will be sucking up leftover breadcrumbs on restaurant floors.

b-but the companies don’t have any money!

lol

It's practically already there, except the holograms part. Go try running a quick DnD session with Maya and you'll see what I mean.

sesame.com/research/crossing_the_uncanny_valley_of_voice

Your fabled crash failed to realize under Biden and it’s not going to realize under Trump either. You’re going to have to keep wageslaving forever and no magical sudden external forces will save you from it.

Fuck yeah. Thanks anon.

but specialized machines aren't.

No, I agree but we've already seen that in a lot of modern factories and warehouses.

literal youtube videos of beta version androids working in Fortune 500 company factories linked in OP (Figure w/ BMW, Apptronik w/ Mercedes).

Thinking big tech gives a fuck about consumers/retail on initial release and isn't targeting trillion dollar industries for commercial replacement of human workers

failing to recognized androids don't need vacation, sleep, don't waver in efficiency, don't need health insurance/worker's comp, can be literally owned by companies (robotic slaves) and thus will easily out value human employees in cost (won't be $200k per either way)

being this midwit in 2025

ngmi

Factories of the near future will be a combination of specialized non-humanoid robotic systems for automation of the production line ALONG with humanoids. Humanoids offer a degree of interoperability and mobility that stationary robots/robotic arms cannot compete with.

Too much text. Just give me the tickers.

moron, models mass produced will start at 80k and then work there way down, especially when scaling is fully online. Further price drops after Chinese reverse-engineers make the 10k version of whatever SOTA model Figure is selling.

Also average joes won't be buying robots, at least not at first. They are naturally leasable since they are function as the endpoint of a massive data center that you simply cannot own yourself. This might change in several years after the adoption of rental bots, but first implementation is leaning towards a subscription model for that plus a number of other reasons. The government might not what people to own their own fully controllable robot, especially not after they see that viral video where some guys put a gun in it's hand and bring it to the shooting range.

They DON'T. Promised mass robot enslavement is supposed to replace large swathes of the economy. There will NEVER be a point where large service industry companies have the cash to replace Rodriguez and Martinez with SoftServeBot and WarehouseBot. The entire industry has been in a recession since COVID.

Hell if you don't believe the money part, how about the manufacturing part? The only way we are going to get tons of robots up and running is by having thousands of new factories pumping out robots, and it sure as hell isn't going to be in the US because no manufacturing company wants to pay the exorbitant fees post tariffs.

Why would androids even be the preferred form of factory robot, surely there's another shape of robot that makes more sense for production tasks

You realize Apple recently announced a $500 BILLION dollar initiative to create domestic factories.
apple.com/newsroom/2025/02/apple-will-spend-more-than-500-billion-usd-in-the-us-over-the-next-four-years/

Tesla already has factories in the US and is already producing optimus bots for INTERNAL use (wow almost like creating efficient robot workers will lead to more efficient factories/production lines as they literally build themselves and build their own workforce).

The other US android companies are backed by Microsoft (Figure) with a $2.9T market cap, Google (Apptronik) with a $1.93T market cap.

Are the BROKE companies in the room with us right now??

see

wouldn't a robotic arm on a set of wheels be sufficient for like 99% of tasks?

humanoid robots are purposefully a drop-in technology, adaptable and can replace any human task. employers would rather not have to redesign their entire warehouse before automating, but instead slowly replace workers bit by bit mid-production with equivalent machines. eventually a humanoid form won't make as much sense as new factories are designed and built. then the form factor should change and diversify. humanoid robots would still be a good fit for the home, which will always be designed around the human form.

If it had two arms (parity) then maybe. It ultimately depends on the nature of the warehouse/factory. Are there stairs/steps/platforms? Amazon robotics is focusing more on wheeled robots for example (warehouses). Ultimately Humanoids still have more interoperability/agility and will still have a role in the same way humans accompany existing robotic arms in factories today.

The reality is we will see both.

eventually, but economies of scale are important and there is a big advantage of building an enormous amount of a one-size-fits-all humanoid robots that can replace any human task imaginable. So many things are built with the human body in mind, but we take that for granted like a fish does water.

It's coming.
It's awesome.
x.com/LinusEkenstam/status/1772294380092633581

>Note how he comments on the equivalent of 100,000 jobs being reduced to 10,000 overseeing robotic systems

Those are bullshit numbers, the more likely ratio is 1,000 people over seeing robots.

Those a bullshit numbers

My bullshit numbers are better!

Just play with an online group. D&D/Pathfinder games are the easiest type of TTRPG group to find.

so Mag 7 stocks then?

AI economy will be closed loop, without us. The transition will be an economic crisis. Without economic leverage, your kids will be raw material for AI.

overseeing when AI can do it better

these delusions

I bought truebit

Brutally depressing post. I will be your friend.

I’ll be sipping coffee in my office and coming out between naps to perform preventative maintenance on these machines. All for $200k per year. Comfy.

But thanks for the insight and tips OP

why would the robots need to be humanoid? seems incredibly inefficient to design robots after humans especially for working industrial / factory jobs. A gigantic robot arm like what is used in a car factory makes much more sense for almost every factory / industrial job. If it needs to be mobile just put it on wheels, no need for a battery or anything.

is it more cost effective to make a separate robot for everything ir just spam tesla bots or whatever. Thre $20,000 or less i think. Thats not terribly expensive for a company.