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Today, Explained

One billion humanoid robots

07 May 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What are humanoid robots and why are they trending?

0.031 - 17.751 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.

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17.771 - 21.296 Sean Rameswaram

It starts like any other race, but this one is different.

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21.476 - 25.521 Unknown

The robot came in a whole six minutes faster than the human record previously held.

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25.782 - 33.652 James Vincent

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.

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33.672 - 43.285 Elon Musk

As you've heard me say a few times, I think Optimus will be our biggest product. Not just Tesla's biggest product ever, but probably the biggest product ever.

43.332 - 59.097 James Vincent

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.

60.173 - 60.914 Sean Rameswaram

What's up, y'all?

61.014 - 73.19 Skylar Diggins

I'm Skylar Diggins, seven-time WNBA All-Star, Olympic gold medalist, and mom. And I'm Cassidy Hubbard, host and reporter for nearly 20 years, covering the biggest names and stories in sports and mom.

73.55 - 79.078 Sean Rameswaram

And this is AmMom, a community for athletes, game changers, and moms of all kinds.

Chapter 2: How are Tesla's Optimus robots changing the landscape?

150.476 - 157.483 James Vincent

But Agility is very much focused on the warehouse and their robots look a little bit more inhuman. They have those backward facing knees.

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157.843 - 165.73 Unknown

This may look like your average American warehouse, but Agility Robotics claims it's actually the world's first factory for humanoid robots.

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165.71 - 172.624 Elon Musk

It's weird grasshopper-like legs allow it to crouch and pick up items off the floor, and it can surprisingly handle stairs as well.

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173.065 - 185.71 James Vincent

Apptronic make a more general-purpose robot that looks much more like a human in terms of, you know, normal sort of body proportions, stands upright, you look it eye to eye, or eye to unblinking robot eye, whatever that might be.

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185.69 - 196.792 Sean Rameswaram

Meet Apollo, your new robot co-worker. He's designed to work alongside humans in a factory and help alleviate taxing and physical labor.

197.113 - 206.652 Ken Goldberg

The goal is that he's going to start doing work here on Earth, but then long term, going to the space station, from the space station to the moon, Mars, and beyond.

206.632 - 231.065 James Vincent

I got to meet them, shake hands. I played Ikakok. Do you know this? No. Rock, paper, scissors is what it is. Sorry. It's called Ikakok sometimes in the UK. I did not know that. I thought we were going to talk about robots, but that's now the most fun fact you've given us. Yeah, you go, ick, ack, ock. Yeah, and then you throw, whether it's rock, paper, or scissors. Anyway.

231.205 - 247.495 James Vincent

They come to us for one thing, but we give them something else, you know? Exactly. And I also got, this was my heart's content. You know, I so wanted to do this. I wanted to kick a robot. Kicking robots happens to be an efficient method of testing a machine's balance.

248.157 - 267.936 James Vincent

In recent years, as robots have become increasingly sophisticated, their makers have gone from kicking them to shoving them, tripping them, even hitting them with folding chairs. I had that burning urge inside me that I want to get my own back before they obviously take over the world. So the robots were nice to you, but you weren't that nice to them. Oh, I was horrible. I was terrible.

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