James Vincent

Humanoid robots, robots for short, have been everywhere lately.

And I'm not talking about, you know, the robot that mows your lawn or vacuums your living room.

I'm talking about those ones that walk, talk, and look like they could kill you.

They're running half marathons in Beijing.

They're giving prostate exams in the new Jackass movie.

Let's let it rip, baby.

And they're now the top priority over at Tesla.

Humanoid robots are being hyped as the future of everything from household chores to elder care to who knows, maybe even war.

So on today's Explain from Vox, we're going to try and suss out all the hype and sort out our robot reality.

My name is James Vincent, and I'm a writer and a journalist based in London.

And James, you've had the distinct privilege of doing something most of us still haven't yet done, which is you recently got to meet a bunch of robots.

How many robots did you meet?

I lost count after the first few, I'll be honest.

I met a bunch of very nice robots, and they were all very kind to me, and they treated me with, you know, great nobility and grace.

No, I met a few from two of the leading companies in the US.

One is called Apptronic and another is called Agility Robotics.

And they make two very different styles of robot.

Well, I mean, they're both humanoids in that they, you know, they resemble a human, arms, legs, etc.

But Agility is very much focused on the warehouse and their robots look a little bit more inhuman.

They have those backward facing knees.