For Elon Musk, the robotics revolution is in the making. He’s not the only one who thinks so. People like Sam Altman also believe the same. Furthermore, it is only necessary to see the demonstrations that China makes in this regard to believe it the same. However, not everyone thinks the same. Among them, Rodney Brooks, the creator of the popular Roomba vacuum cleaner.
According to the businessman, The idea that the founder of Tesla and many others have about humanoid robots, «is pure fantasy.» That is to say, those who consider that they will soon have an Optimus-type model doing their housework are going to be completely disappointed. The most curious thing is that he is not the only one who is on the same line.
The creator of Roomba denies Elon Musk
Although he may not be as popular as Elon Musk, Rodney Brooks knows about robots. In fact, he can easily be considered one of the world’s greatest experts on the matter. First, for being the main person responsible for a product as innovative and popular as the Roomba vacuum cleaner. But also for being an emeritus professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
For Brooks, the deadlines and expectations of Elon Musk, who has said on numerous occasions that Optimus-type domestic robots are just around the corner, and that they will take care of everything, even taking care of the children, do not correspond to reality. Why are you so convinced of this? Because believes that from a technical point of view it will not be possible.
The expert recognizes the advances that have been made in recent years, but are they enough for the robotic revolution that Musk has in mind? Definitely not. Although machine learning and neural networks have improved on tasks like visual recognition and natural language processing, translating those advances into motor skills is a different story.
Brooks argues that the human sensory and motor system is very sophisticated. Too much. Our hands and arms combine hundreds of touch, pressure and movement sensors that work with the neurological system to perform tasks such as grasping fragile objects, manipulating tools and so on. A machine can’t do that, no matter what Elon Musk is.
Robotics experts remain skeptical
Rodney Brooks’ opinion is not exceptional. Jake Loosararian, another robotics expert, stated not long ago that only 5% of robotic projects are producing results.. Or what is the same, that the remaining 95% are useless. Something that would explain the constant delays of Tesla and Elon Musk’s Optimus, which never goes beyond its development phase.
And the impressive Chinese robots? Brooks is also unimpressed by them. Like more specialists, consider that they are all managed remotely and prepared only for the gallery. They would also be just as far away from becoming an everyday reality, and even more so domestic.