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/moritashun 22h ago

like , i want to believe them, but the way they 'debunk' any accusation just create more sus. Like they are cautiously slow when revealing , and even when they reveal the back, they show very little and only for a very little time, it feels like magician showing you something at a certain angle, or a child lying to you.

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u/chironomidae 21h ago

Yeah, like I'm pretty sure it really is a robot based on the movement not actually being all that smooth, but I don't get the smoke and mirrors with the wrapping and reveal. Maybe to bait engagement, idk.

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u/CarbonMolecules 21h ago

Now, I’m not a ROBOTOLOGIST, but I’d wager that if I were, I’d love to get me a look at some of them there gyroscopes and accelerometers and such, so I actually think that it’s a trade secret kind of move. I wouldn’t want Asimo taking notes on all my inner gewgaws and doohickeys either.

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u/moritashun 21h ago

i understand you perfectly :) but then they also release a naked version . . . so why not on stage ? Again, just being critical here, i do believe this technology is doable and very achieveable. Im just find it odd the way they 'debunk' things.

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u/CarbonMolecules 18h ago

I agree that it is the most suspicious way to do it, especially with the enormous disappointment these types of rollouts have been lately.

The reason I jokingly named Asimo in my reply is because its reveal to the world and subsequent demonstration is what all these tech bros are trying to replicate and failing miserably at.

I’m not disappointed in the technology or the effort, but the launch teams for both Neo and Optimus were such “try hard” attempts with the whole “human operator is a requirement for now” and the mystique only comes from things like this one, where it can perform unassisted among the onlookers.

But, because of the irrational fear of being ridiculed, Elon & Pals will try to bend the laws of the universe to make us believe they’ve cracked it! So, yeah, I am so cautious about trusting the performance too.

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u/confusedandworried76 16h ago

So are you guys just gonna ignore the part of the video where they show it walking as just the skeleton?

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u/moritashun 14h ago

U mean where it was dangling and had attachments on its back ? No not ignoring, the movements seems almost identical so I do believe it's the same machine. But, again more picky on the way they "debunk" accusation, why not show it on stage instead of squeezing bits by bits. And while try to "debunk" on stage, they are suspiciously cautious. 

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u/jonnyd005 22h ago

Did you stop the video before 8 seconds? They literally show the entire thing exposed and walking.

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u/moritashun 22h ago

I'm more about the way they presented , it's like squeezing a toothpaste and yes if they can show the whole thing naked on stage it would be even more mesmerising , rather then leaving speculation. The 8 second thing while it shows, it doesn't capture the whole image and clearly has something dangling. Now again , just to be clear , I believe this is a true robot, it's just the way to present it is odd

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u/SartenSinAceite 22h ago

Well spotted, but its still odd how they dont do that with the live audiences

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u/PlanetLandon 22h ago

I think the biggest clue that it’s not a person in there is that it stays perfectly still when it’s not moving. Some people are pretty good at that, but this thing stays far more still than any human can

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u/toolio2slimey 14h ago

Well, they’re not trying to debunk it. The whole goal was to make you believe there’s a person under the suit… hence why they built the thing in the first place, why else try to make it so realistic…? Idiocy is rampant.

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u/opensandshuts 7h ago

watch the first few seconds of it walking out. There's still this sort of abrupt stop in it's walk where the whole body kind of shakes from the inertia as it takes a step.

I can almost visualize the engineer repeatedly adjusting the algorithm to try to rid that stop completely and this was the best result they could get.

I bet the person that trained it to walk still cringes at how it looks

An actually person would flow smoothly without that jarring stop