Humanoid Robots

A Bipedal Robot is a robot that is designed after human anatomy and movements. Bipedal robots have two legs that are used to walk like humans. Additionally, a humanoid bipedal robot might include other bodily features such as a head and arms. To allow the robot to interact with the world and mimic a human’s senses, it may have cameras for eyesight, speakers for speech, and microphones for hearing. Many companies have been working on developing bipedal humanoid robots, some longer than others. Tesla, Boston Dynamics, Apptronik, and Honda are some of these companies with their own versions of a bipedal humanoid robot.

Tesla Bot

Tesla Bot is a humanoid robot and the newest endeavor for Tesla. Currently, Tesla products include self-driving electric car models and solar panels for homes. Tesla Bot will build off the technology that exists in Tesla’s self-driving cars to create a “general purpose, bi-pedal, humanoid robot.” Tesla’s concept for Tesla Bot was announced in August 2021 at AI Day. Tesla Bot, which is currently in progress, is also referred to as Optimus. The first prototype was revealed at AI Day in September 2022, about a year after its initial announcement. During a demonstration at AI Day 2022, the robot walked around on stage, moved its arms, and waved to the crowd. After the live demonstration, video demonstrations showed the robot delivering a box to a location, watering plants, and picking up relocating parts in the Tesla factory. The robot’s POV was included to show everything it could see and objects identified by Tesla Bot were highlighted in different colors. A second robot prototype that is more similar to Tesla’s concept and ideal end product was revealed. Since the robot was not yet ready to walk, it was propped up on a stand but moved its arms and legs for the audience. The Tesla Bot weighs 161 pounds, which is more than the original estimate of 125 pounds. Tesla Bot runs on the same self-driving computer as those in Tesla cars. It makes use of the technology that the self-driving cars use to map the environment and identify hazards to make decisions. The robot’s hand has 11 degrees of freedom and 28 actuators to allow full-body movement. In terms of power efficiency, the robot’s power consumption is 100 watts sitting and 500 watts walking. It can walk at 5 MPH. The expected cost of a Tesla Bot, according to Musk, will be less than $20,000. The robot contains cameras, microphones, and speakers to simulate a human’s vision, hearing, and speech. Tesla plans for the robot to have the ability to complete 18 different movements. Some of these include forward walking, squatting, side stepping, turning while walking, and climbing stairs.

Boston Dynamics Atlas

Boston Dynamics is a robotics company that is also working on a humanoid robot, called Atlas. Since its reveal in 2013, Atlas has seen some major improvements. Atlas can travel 2.5 meters per second, stands at a height of 1.5 meters, and weighs 89 kilograms. Atlas has a color camera and a Lidar module to simulate vision. In a demonstration on Youtube, Atlas can walk, run, jump, and even do backflips. Atlas demonstrates carrying and moving objects. The robot does this in numerous movements: squatting to pick up an object, placing an object, traveling with an object, throwing an object, and pushing an object. Boston Dynamics has a simulator that allows engineers to try new instructions on Atlas without the physical robot attempting it. Boston Dynamics even has publicly available videos of Atlas not performing as expected. With this, you can see part of the reality of developing and testing a humanoid robot.

Honda

Honda created their first bipedal robot in 1986. The robot, called E0, successfully walked on its two legs. However, it did not look human-like, and Honda continued improving their design. In 2000, Honda unveiled the first version of ASIMO. ASIMO is 130cm tall, weighs 48kg, and has a maximum speed of 9km/hour.

Apptronik Astra and Apollo

Apptronik is a Texas-based robotics company. Apptronik developed a robot called Astra featuring only upper-body movement capabilities. Apptronik created a prototype of a full-body humanoid robot, called Quick Development Humanoid (QDH). Apptronik is now building off Astra and QDH to create a humanoid robot called Apollo. Apollo will stand at a height of 1.75 meters, weigh 75 kilograms, and will be able to lift 25 kilograms. Apptronik’s plan is to create their own actuators for Apollo. Apptronik is still working on the concept for Apollo and has plans to present it in March 2023.

Ethical Concerns

There are a variety of orphan risks, or potential problems that are hard to identify in advance, for this type of technology. Bipedal humanoid robots are still in development at this point in time and there is a lot of uncertainty regarding a future with such robots. Some potential concerns include data collection, human-robot interaction, job loss, safety, design errors, and legal issues.

Data Collection

As evident in the demonstration of Tesla Bot, these robots need to collect data to move around and interact with their environment. Data collected by robots could include input from cameras, speakers, and microphones. There is concern regarding use and storage of information collected by the robots, especially if it’s classified as private or sensitive information. Similar to other technologies, the robot will use and store certain information which is susceptible to data breaches.

Human-Robot Interaction

Another risk to consider is engagement with humans. It’s unknown and difficult to predict how humans will react to robots. The nature of these interactions will vary as well. The robot’s appearance is one of the factors that might affect how a human responds to it. Current humanoid robots vary in how realistic and human-like they are. Robots that provide a service is an instance of a social human-robot interaction. Non-social interactions between humans and robots could be walking next to or past each other. ASIMO demonstrated walking near humans and responding to human movement.

Unemployment

Another common concern is unemployment due to humanoid robots replacing people in certain jobs. Some fear that robots will take jobs away from humans, whereas some believe that robots will work alongside humans. A common motivation for the design of humanoid robots is to do jobs that are dangerous or unattractive to humans.

Safety

Walking and balancing on two legs has proven to be a challenge for bipedal humanoid robots, especially on uneven ground. Although they may show huge success walking and completing challenging movements, mistakes can happen. One concern is a robot falling on someone or something. Although their weights fall in a normal range for a human, they are made out of metal and could cause damage to objects or injury to people. In a demonstration of Boston Dynamics’ Atlas, a person prompted the robot to get his tools. When the robot got closer to the person, it threw the tool bag to them. This demonstration happened in a controlled environment, but it sheds light on the danger of letting a robot freely interact with people.

Design Errors

Since humans are designing and building these robots, there is the factor of human error to account for. Bugs in the software could cause the robot to behave in an unexpected manner or not know how to respond in a situation.

Security

Like other modern technologies, robots are susceptible to hacking and cyber attacks. This could result in losing control of the robot or stored data.

Legal Issues

It’s unclear who would be responsible for a robot’s actions in the event of injury to a person or property damage.

Comparison

Out of these three companies, Boston Dynamics’ Atlas has the most advanced, working prototype of a humanoid robot. Atlas moves gracefully and currently has a wider array of movements than its competitors, Tesla Bot and Apollo. Additionally, there is more information and video demonstrations of Atlas in action than Tesla Bot and Apollo. Both Apptronik and Tesla plan to use their own custom actuators in their humanoid robot designs. A common denominator for these three humanoid robots is intended use. They're being designed to complete tasks that are tedious or humans don't want to do.