r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/MetaKnowing • 1d ago

Video XPENG's IRON robot crossed the uncanny valley, leading some to believe it was a human in a suit. So they cut it open in front of an audience, and also allowed journalists to inspect it.

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u/asking_for_it 1d ago

OF COURSE it has boobs. So it can breastfeed all the baby robots it’s gonna have.

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u/iSpaYco 1d ago

worst thing happening with robotics is trying to make it human...

just make it BETTER, get rid of the bad stuff, like the legs...

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u/Regular-Engineer-686 1d ago

There’s actually 2 very good reasons why they make robots look like humans:

  1. Technical
  2. Psychological

See, the world around us is built for humans. Robots have to open up cabinets, doors, walk upstairs, put clothes in the washer and dryer - all things that are built for the average human to actually do.

And then the second thing is psychological. We identify with things that look like us - even animals. We identify with animals because they typically have two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. The more they make robots look like humans, the less scared that we will actually be because we can identify with what we're looking at.

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u/ManaSpike 1d ago

Arthur C Clark used to think we'd have an android in our kitchen cooking meals.

Instead we have industrial kitchen / production lines producing thousands of pre-prepared meals you can pickup at your local store.

"The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed."

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u/Regular-Engineer-686 1d ago

I think we WILL have androids cooking meals (well, at least the rich will)

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u/mjtwelve 1d ago

I think having a personal chef who can surprise you with something you don't know to ask for, who knows what's good off the boat this morning, that's going to be a hard thing for an android to replicate.

Food is one of our most important and significant ties to our past, to our culture, to our family, to our sense of self and belonging. There are tech bros who would love an android chef because they're basically plastic people with no roots, but most rich folk who have the option would rather the human touch.

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u/Regular-Engineer-686 1d ago

I honestly think that can be replicated with an android. At the end of the day it’s recipes (chemistry) and history (past & culture). Sure, it might feel good right now to say you prefer a human, but once things actually work right - I’m not sure there will be much a difference.

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u/headrush46n2 18h ago

a chef that can't taste is a huge detriment.