Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins/Futurism. Source: Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images
AI-powered robots are slowly making their way into our world, from delivery bots on wheels to caring bot To the planet’s growing elderly population.
Nothing has captured the imagination of investors quite like this humanoid robotHowever, as they have put untold billions It entered the field amid hype that human-sized robots could impact almost every part of society – notably by replacing jobs everywhere from domestic labor to factory floors.
But one venture capitalist is now issuing a warning: that the current surge of investment dollars toward humanoid robots is creating the next financial bubble. despite everything viral robot dancing videoThe reality, she says, is that there are still Putting the number of technical hurdles to work – And so, startups in this area are far from making profits.
“Investors should remain disciplined and support companies that have realistic goals based on economics, not hype,” said Daiva Rakouskaite, partner and manager at Aneli Capital, a Lithuania-based venture capital firm. company statement“From day one, startups should aim for early revenue streams through licensing, partnerships and have a clear model of monetization in the near future, The same revenue-first philosophy can be applied to any sector,”
She is not alone in sounding the alarm. China’s leading economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission of China, has warned that a bubble is forming around robotics and that startups are creating robots that are too similar to each other, inadvertently draining money away from vital research.
This is on top of skepticism From robotics pioneer Rodney BrooksInventor of Roomba vacuum bot, who wrote earlier this year All these investment dollars are wasted and humanoid robots are not safe enough to perform human tasks due to hand dexterity and walking problems, as well as other technical problems. In short, the gap between what humanoid robots can do versus the marketing hype is huge, Brooks said.
“We’re going to go through a big promotion, and then a trough of disappointment,” he told the new York Times(Underscoring their warning: iRobot, maker of the Roomba filed for bankruptcy this week,
But we seem to be running out when it comes to humanoid robots, because “AI gives humanoids commercial capabilities that weren’t possible before,” Anelli’s statement said.
in one October report From business analytics organization CB Insights, the AI sector secured more than 50 percent of the more than $95 billion in venture capital funding in the third quarter of this year, while industrial humanoid robotic startups secured 17 commercial deals.
But that report also cautions about the hype in the robotics field, saying it still faces “fundamental challenges with predictability, dexterity, reliability, and cost, limiting initial use cases to structured environments such as factories and warehouses with controlled and predictable tasks.”
So what will happen once the froth wears off: more humanoid robots dancing and working in factories – or useless vaporware bots gathering dust in our closets?
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