Was having a conversation in my 18-year old son's room about how he's going to have a robot in his home in the next fifteen years, helping with chores.
We all are.
The prices of these are hammering down - Elon Musk says that his Optimus robots from Tesla will be in the $20k-$30k bracket (though, tbf, he says a lot of stuff that doesn't always come true). More pertinently, a number of Chinese manufacturers including Unitree (be amazed and somewhat scared at them dancing!) are producing humanoids at scale and expect them to be $10k-$20k in a few years. Perfect if you like Premier Xi Jingping knowing what brand of toothpaste you use (and also your penchant for revolutionary chat).
Norway's 1X also launched hard into the 'household humanoid' this week with its NEO Gamma model. These companies and robots are all going to influence where we are in 2040 - a world where our decisions are going to be absolutely about which of these we trust, as much as which of them is great at folding holo-trousers.
My son says that he's not going to be tempted to use a humanoid robot. "I can put things away myself," he insisted. We silently considered the clothes scattered across his bedroom floor.
"Maybe just a small one, then," he added.
I'm looking forward to the versions that arrive with a removal van ...
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