For some reason, we humans seem to be hell-bent on making robots that look like us. One thing is for sure, though: We’ve been making humanoid robots for a long time, and they’re starting to get really good. This is Robots Everywhere — a show where we chronicle the slow but steady takeover by our future robot overlords, and show you how they’re making their way into practically every facet of modern life
Robots come in all shapes and sizes, but one of the constants throughout our history of robotics is the goal of making a humanoid robot that looks, sounds, and acts just like us humans do. Maybe the reason we seek to create robots in our own likeness is narcissism. Or maybe it’s for practical reasons. Or perhaps it’s just because human beings like a challenge. In any case, building machines that look and act like humans has always been part of our vision of what robots could and should be.
Humanlike robots date back as far as robotics itself. Some of the very first prototype robots were designed to have humanoid form and function. Eric the Robot made his debut in 1928 at London’s Exhibition of the Society of Model Engineers. This “Man of Tin” was designed to make the opening address when the Duke of York wasn’t able to attend. Erik took to the stage, rose to his feet, bowed to the audience, and gave a 4-minute opening address. Technically, the address was given via radio by someone backstage, but the technology was still pretty impressive. In 1939, Westinghouse debuted Elektro, a 7-foot-tall giant of a humanoid robot that could speak up to 700 words using a record player inside its chest, and who could also blow up a balloon and smoke cigarettes.
Cigarette smoking aside, these robots were still very primitive, and would remain that way for another half century or so. Around the year 2000, humanoid robots started making a comeback in a major way, most notably through Honda’s Asimo robot, which finally had the ability to walk on its own two legs. Asimo was the culmination of decades’ of work to enable machines to walk, run, and balance just like a human. Asimo could also recognize moving objects, gestures, sounds, and even faces, which allowed him to interact with humans.
Asimo was a turning point in humanoid robotics, and soon the speed and complexity of these machines exploded. These robots could now move their hands in highly dexterous ways, make facial expressions, and play soccer. In recent years, we’ve seen humanoid robots complete with skin and human features, as well as robots from companies like Boston Dynamics that, in just a few short years, went from barely walking to being able to navigate uneven, icy terrain, then gain the abilirty to run, parkour, and do backflips with ease.
The pace of progress in humanoid roboticss continues to speed up. We’re now at a point where the prospect of being able to live and work alongside these robots isn’t just possible — it’s likely to happen in the near future.
San Francisco startup Dimensional advertised for people to walk robot dogs through city streets. The New York Times reported that the job could include carrying a roughly 33-pound robot back to the office if it overheated. A lift home is an awkward requirement for a labor-saving machine.
Keeping the hardware running is only one challenge. Anthropic's robotics tests found that language models mostly failed when controlling joints directly, but did better when directing trained controllers. Giving an AI agent a body doesn't teach it to handle ordinary household objects.
Soon, a mattress protector may be more than a bed cover. Australian medtech company Sleeptite and researchers at RMIT University have received a US patent for FlexiSense, a smart bedding technology that tracks body position and posture to help caregivers identify when older residents may be at risk of falling.
The technology is being developed for Sleeptite’s in-bed monitoring system, REMi, and was recently on display at The MedTech Conference in Boston. A peer-reviewed study in Flexible and Printed Electronics says the sensors can also be made at scale without sacrificing performance or durability.
AI companies spend enormous amounts of time convincing us their technology is safe and secure. But what happens when those same companies become targets of increasingly sophisticated AI-powered attacks? Anthropic, the company behind Claude, is now facing that question. According to a Washington Post report, cybersecurity startup Cathedral discovered vulnerabilities that let its researchers access sensitive information in Anthropic's internal systems.
The researchers used AI agents to identify potential entry points in less than 12 hours. Interestingly, they didn't need to crack Claude itself. Instead, they exploited weaknesses in third-party business applications that Anthropic uses for everyday operations. Anthropic's security testing program disclosed the findings, which allows outside researchers to identify and report vulnerabilities.