I danced with a robot.. here’s how I’m convinced the future is here

I am convinced that the robot revolution is finally here.

I was at the world’s largest electronics trade show Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, where engineers have been saying for decades that commercially available humanoids are just around the corner.

But this was the year when their predictions finally seemed close to reality.

This became especially clear when I interacted with a robot that moved and danced with a human fluidity; he stepped with one leg in front of the other and swayed naturally to maintain balance.

As I turned a corner, I met another person who could lift and stack boxes just like an Amazon worker. And then I was bombarded with clips by inventors of their robots doing everything from doing laundry to cooking to picking up a bag.

There was even a robot who looked like he could be a half-decent human companion, even if his movements made him look drunk.

During his keynote speech, multi-billionaire NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, who is creating an AI agent – ​​a program that can take simple directions to complete a task – said: “The ChatGPT moment for general robotics is upon us.”

He is referring to the Eureka moment in 2023, when AI seemed to enter our daily lives out of nowhere.

And I agree that we’re going to see the same thing with robots.

The ChatGPT moment clearly did not just come out of the blue.

Start-ups had spent billions and trillions of dollars perfecting the technology for decades, funded by giants like Microsoft, Apple and Elon Musk’s Tesla.

But it burst onto the scene when ChatGPT’s easy-to-use and human-like conversation skills were made freely accessible, bringing AI into the lives of millions of people for the first time.

Within two months of its release, Chat had 100 million users, making it the fastest growing consumer application in history.

By comparison, TikTok had just 6 million users two months after launching in the US in 2018 – while Facebook, which launched in 2004, gained just 50,000 users in two months.

I think we may be in the same place now when it comes to robots – and the main reason for that is price.

Engine.AI’s humanoid robot that can shop for groceries, do laundry, cook or clean costs $13,700.

My jaw almost hit the floor when I heard that. It’s about a third of the $49,000 price tag for an average family car, and well below the hundreds of thousands normally associated with these robots. Add in mass production, and the costs could be even lower.

And while I don’t see people from my generation, the Millennials, looking for that in the coming years, I do see older people taking the leap.

About one in three older adults are lonely, studies show, while 49 percent have arthritis, which leaves them with achy joints, making it difficult to perform daily tasks such as carrying heavy bags or maintaining a… weed overrun garden.

A metal robot could become their full-time caregiver, as it is cheaper than the human alternative and may also provide some degree of companionship. It can even help them stay in their home longer.

It could also have a revolutionary impact on the healthcare sector, which regularly suffers from staff shortages. In Britain, one in ten vacancies in the sector remain unfilled.

Healthcare companies or governments could purchase the robots and assign them to patients in care homes, allowing them to care for patients 24/7 and reducing pressure on the workforce.

Older adults are also open to the idea of ​​being cared for by a robot; 40 to 60 percent say they want to consider this in research.

Some humanoid robots – such as Pepper and Paro – have already been deployed in nursing homes in Japan, helping to entertain people, spark conversations and build emotional connections.

While the robots aren’t quite at the point of providing patients with 24/7 personal assistance, they’re certainly not far off.

The staff at Engine.AI told me that their robot could certainly perform all of these home tasks, but only if it has the right programming.

I suspect that with the advent of AI, this is not far away.

The robot I walked and danced with was the SA01, developed by China-based EngineAI and costing $5,300.

The inventor said it had already been purchased by several universities for research purposes.

They also suggested that, with a camera attached, it could work as a warehouse guard.

It would do this by patrolling around a warehouse at night and quickly sending alerts to human guards if it detected a thief approaching.

He also showed me the company’s SE01 and PM01 – priced at $13,700 – which have arms and can lift objects up to 20 pounds, making them perfect for household chores and family grocery shopping.

I also came across the Casbot 01, made in China, which looks human and has dexterous five-fingered hands.

The inventors told me how the machine was already being used in factories, with the fingers making it ideal for inserting parts into laptop motherboards.

However, they only bought a model for the show, but said they would bring a real robot next year.

And downstairs I met the humanoid robot Unitree G1, which can walk just like a human – and at 4 feet tall looks a bit like a human child.

Sam Altman’s OpenAI-powered 1X revealed late last year that its own version – Neo – had now been sent home for testing.

The robot will help with daily tasks, such as wiping tables or collecting bags for people.

And Elon Musk’s Tesla is also moving forward with plans for its own humanoid robot, called Optimus, which could be used for dangerous tasks in carmakers’ factories this year.

Musk himself has previously predicted that there could be ten billion humanoid robots in use worldwide by 2040, each costing $20,000 to $25,000.

Last year he also called them a “fundamental transformation for civilization” that would contribute to a “future of abundance.”

It’s starting to look like the predictions of “I, Robot,” set in Chicago in 2035 and where almost everyone has a robot — perhaps strangely prescient.