Humanoid robots take center stage at Silicon Valley summit, but skepticism remains
Alaoui says many researchers now believe humanoids or some other kind of physical embodiment of AI are “going to become the norm." “The question is really just how long it will take,” he said.
Alaoui says many researchers now believe humanoids or some other kind of physical embodiment of AI are “going to become the norm." “The question is really just how long it will take,” he said. Disney's contribution to the field, a walking robotic version of “Frozen” character Olaf, will be roaming on its own through Disneyland theme parks in Hong Kong and Paris early next year. Robots have long been seen as a bad bet for Silicon Valley investors — too complicated, capital-intensive and “boring, honestly,” says venture capitalist Modar Alaoui. Alaoui, founder of the Humanoids Summit, gathered more than 2,000 people this week, including top robotics engineers from Disney, Google and dozens of startups, to showcase their technology and debate what it will take to accelerate a nascent industry. Alaoui says many researchers now believe humanoids or some other kind of physical embodiment of AI are “going to become the norm." “The question is really just how long it will take,” he said. Disney's contribution to the field, a walking robotic version of “Frozen” character Olaf, will be roaming on its own through Disneyland theme parks in Hong Kong and Paris early next year. Even at a conference designed to build enthusiasm for the technology, held at a Computer History Museum that's a temple to Silicon Valley's previous breakthroughs, skepticism remained high that truly humanlike robots will take root anytime soon.... “The humanoid space has a very, very big hill to climb,” said Cosima du Pasquier, founder and CEO of Haptica Robotics, which works to give robots a sense of touch. Researchers at the consultancy McKinsey & Company have counted about 50 companies around the world that have raised at least $100 million to develop humanoids, led by about 20 in China and 15 in North America.... China is leading in part due to government incentives for component production and robot adoption and a mandate last year “to have a humanoid ecosystem established by 2025,” said McKinsey partner Ani Kelkar.
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