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392 points lairv | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.287s | source
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modeless ◴[] No.45528000[source]
> Charging coils in the robot’s feet allow it to simply step onto a wireless stand and charge at 2 kW.

This is silly. Wireless charging is inefficient and costly compared to cables but we use it for the convenience of humans, to avoid the annoyance of having to plug something in repeatedly. Obviously a humanoid robot should simply plug in its own cable! No human need be inconvenienced. Wireless charging has no benefit here at all.

> Each fingertip sensor can detect forces as small as three grams of pressure - sensitive enough to register the weight of a paperclip resting on your finger

Three grams would be a very heavy paperclip. I have seen several types of touch sensor and while the technology is impressive I don't think any of them are durable enough for real use. Even human skin doesn't rely on durability alone. Healing is critical. But healing is infeasible for robots so instead we need to design repairable, replaceable, disposable, ideally recyclable parts, especially for the fingers that touch everything. This hand looks monolithic and not repairable.

All that said, I'm looking forward to seeing if their claims about cost and manufacturing volume pan out. Those are the things that matter the most right now, along with reliability. We need large numbers of robots operating continuously in the world to collect the data that will enable us to train robot AI. Right now there's basically only one or two companies with scaled humanoid production (for a very loose definition of "scaled") and they are in China. I'm rooting for anyone who can manufacture robots outside of China.

replies(2): >>45528257 #>>45529221 #
1. ihumanable ◴[] No.45529221[source]
I'm surprised it doesn't just have physical connection to the little stand it's sitting on.

30 years ago we figured out how to contact charge cordless phones with metal pads and prongs.