James Vincent

But they want them to do anything that a human labourer can do.

And, you know, that's a big ask.

Who's trying?

Who's asking the robots to do it all right now?

A lot of companies in the US and in China, mainly.

These are the two leaders in the robotics space.

It used to be mainly startups, I would say, but actually now we're seeing more of the big tech companies move into this space as well.

Sometimes they're just doing little bits of research.

You know, Meta recently bought a robotics startup.

On May 1st, Meta acquired a startup called ARI, Assured Robot Intelligence.

They build foundation models for humanoid robots designed to do physical labor in your home.

Meta wants to be the Android or Qualcomm of the humanoid industry and power the underpinnings, the software, the hardware, the artificial intelligence, the sensor stack, the compute for the whole industry.

Google has been doing stuff with robots for ages.

It's been testing its AI out on them.

They're really dexterous.

They're doing some really intricate stuff like folding origami or like packing lunch.

And Tesla, it's Elon Musk's obsession, or one of them, alongside colonizing Mars.

And he thinks that Optimus, which is the name of Tesla's robot, is going to be, you know, he makes all sorts of wild claims.

It's going to be the most productive, the most profitable product ever invented.

And I think this is, you know, typical Muskian hyperbole, but his interest is something that has moved the market hugely.