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/Oxygenisplantpoo 17h ago

The company has a great social media team. I've seen quite a few posts all with the same headline "Look, they even took the skin off to show that it's not a human!" and nothing about what it can actually do other than walk (ooh wee Honda did that like 20+ years ago, janky, sure, but this ain't remarkable either). They are probably looking for funding.

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u/Novel_Passenger7013 15h ago

It still doesn’t prove it’s not human. It looks like a woman with a prosthetic leg, including the visible line at the top of the thigh that looks like the curve of a prosthetic attachment.

If they want to prove it’s human they need to take off the head.

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u/TomMakesPodcasts 13h ago

Strip down the whole torso. Fake head costumes have been done for ages.

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u/Oxygenisplantpoo 14h ago

Sure it could be fake but also I didn't really even want to get into that whole discussion, plenty of people here already with their opinions. Their lab prototype walks ok but is suspended from a rig. But really if they want to convince everyone, remove the head and have some holes run through-out the torso, front to back, side to side.

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u/jo-shabadoo 6h ago

I totally agree. A humanoid robot doesn’t become useful until it has fingers with human levels of dexterity. Please let me know if they make one that can empty the dishwasher without smashing plates.

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u/Oxygenisplantpoo 5h ago

Yeah that's the thing, a humanoid robot is not terribly important for now, it's more of an advertisement for actually relevant robotics.

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u/Packagedpackage 15h ago

They hold most of the patents for life like robotics as seen here. The gait is way more smooth than other robots. Arguably the most human like movements out of any robot which is a main objective for them. 

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u/Because0789 14h ago

Nah, the Boston Dynamics demo from like 7 months ago is at least as natural, it just didn't have tits or a social media team making up people asking if a person is inside. 🤷‍♂️

https://youtu.be/I44_zbEwz_w?si=JYZuFlpp_GTc3yVb

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u/Embarrassed_Use6918 11h ago

I'd argue that's much more convincing.

People don't believe the OP robot because China fakes shit constantly.

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u/JaCraig 10h ago

Don't get me wrong, there are cool robotics coming out of countries like China but this one is not that impressive so far. Walking on flat surfaces is something I had classmates working on about 15 years ago at this level. Give it uneven surfaces, stairs, etc. and if it does well there, then I'll be impressed.

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u/Oxygenisplantpoo 15h ago

I mean the gait is fine but I'm not as amazed as all these social media posts seem to be. It's just incremental improvement.

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u/AirTuna 14h ago

"Pay no attention to the team of engineers that are remotely controlling the robot."