Personal Robots: Perfect Assistants or the End of Privacy?

Rosie the Robot was a memorable part of Saturday mornings for those of us of a certain age. I loved The Jetsons. Their take on the future of family life and transportation seemed fantastical to a kid growing up on a sheep farm in rural Vermont. They had a flying car! My family had an old Scout (futuristic in its own way, as it was the original SUV) and a Massey Ferguson tractor. 

Today, much of what we saw on The Jetsons is turning out to be predictive. I’ve become focused on the magnitude of change on the horizon. In the next decade (or less), we’ll experience a myriad of changes at a scale and pace rarely seen in history.

This is more than a once-in-a-generation type of event, which is why I’ve been writing about eVTOLs, quantum computing, and AI. There is a confluence of technological advances that could change life as we know it at every level—societal, economic, regulatory, you name it.

Let’s take a look at another sci-fi-esque technology on the horizon: personal robots.

Robotics is well established in modern factories. Companies like Fanuc and ABB have long been driving efficiency in manufacturing. Warehouse automation company Symbotic (SYM) has helped companies from grocery wholesalers to Walmart automate the storage, selection, and product distribution process, driving efficiency and removing labor. This is one reason why US manufacturing could enjoy a renaissance, especially in states with cheap electricity. Few new manufacturing jobs will be created, mind you, but production could move back to our shores. 

Personal robots intrigue me most in the robotics space. The jury is out as to when personal robotics—Rosie the Robot equivalents in most homes—will become a reality. It could be five years or 15, but they are coming, and they will change the fabric of society.  

Boston Dynamics was an early mover in this direction, building what looked like a robotic dog. The early incarnations were militaristic:

Source: Tactical Technology Office, DARPA, US DoD

BD’s more recent iterations are focused on other areas. The company, now owned by Hyundai Motor Group, has moved away from its defense roots. Today, BD highlights use cases like manufacturing, remote inspection, construction, and logistics. When I look at one of its products, though, what comes to mind is home security. If I saw one of these things while walking up a driveway or stepping on a porch, I’d turn around and run. It’s hard not to imagine an army of these types of robots on the frontlines of a conflict. Ground support for drones, if you will.

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Robots of this type have already proven themselves to be valuable in other ways. They were sent into highly radioactive areas following the Fukushima incident. But what’s coming next is the real change agent. 

Companies like Tesla, China’s Unitree, Figure AI, and several others are developing humanoid robots. Some are meant to work in industrial environments, able to lift and move heavy objects. Humanoid robots working in an industrial or warehouse environment make a lot of sense. Initially, they won’t be as accurate as a precision robotic arm tooled to do a specific task quickly and repeatedly, but the challenge with a highly customized, fixed-in-place robotic arm is that it can only do one thing. If you change the specification for the product, that expensive robot might not work. 

Industrial humanoids may not be as efficient at a specific task, but they’ll likely be more efficient than a human, and they’ll be more versatile than the highly customized manufacturing robots of today. Robots will work without breaks, without unions, without salaries or benefits, and without limits beyond their battery capacity. 

That’s not the holy grail for humanoid robots, however. The real opportunity for humanoid robot producers is to sell massive quantities of AI-enabled units to the general public. Enter Rosie the Robot.

There will come a day in most of our lifetimes when almost every household will own a robot—one that can mow the lawn, do the laundry, clean the house, help the kids with their homework in the evening, and provide security surveillance at night. All the “internet of things” functions you may use today will likely flow through your personal Rosie. If you’re impressed with Alexa, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. 

Estimates as to when this will happen range from alpha testing in real homes later this year to full adoption sometime “this decade” by the CEO of Figure AI, who notes that the biggest constraint is access to data. Home-based units will need to train their AI on massive amounts of data, as you can imagine, to be truly helpful across the multitude of tasks and terrains that exist in a home on a daily basis. 

The adoption of humanoid robots calls to mind a lot of questions. A robot will hear every conversation in the home, know everything about what is happening in your household, catalogue (or even order for delivery) every product you use. Where will this data be stored? Will it be shared with Amazon, Apple, Google, Figure AI…and are you OK with that? You’ll have a surveillance device monitoring literally everything you and your family say and do. 

Will you pay the true cost for a robot and, in return, control your data? Or will home robots be sold at a steep discount, with the tradeoff being a deeper erosion of our privacy and data? We are already “the product” for Amazon, Google, Meta, and so many other tech companies intent on monetizing our thoughts and desires. An embedded humanoid robot that the entire family interacts with, every day, all day, is the ultimate data miner. 

There’s a lot to think about here. Mass adoption of human robots will have a multitude of benefits. Western demographic trends are not good. We’ll need robots to perform many of the strenuous, dangerous, or repetitive tasks typically considered less desirable. Worker productivity will skyrocket, as fewer employees are on hand, simply making sure the robots are moving.

But…we’ve spent time thinking about the impact of AI on the labor market. That’s primarily a risk to the white-collar crowd. Robots will replace the blue-collar. Will you hire a landscaper to mow your lawn if your personal robot can do it? Let your mind wander, and you’ll think of all kinds of jobs that could be done by a robotic assistant.

Which makes me wonder, what will the impact of all of this be on society? I’m going to explore this on camera with my friend Pippa Malmgren sometime soon. I’ll share that discussion with you.

For now, I’ll leave you with a few links in case you want to explore further. First, a fun read for your consideration. 

Mark Mills, Executive Director of the National Center for Energy Analytics and speaker at this year’s Strategic Investment Conference, recommended I read “The Murderbot Diaries,” a seven-part series by Martha Wells. Here’s a link to the first book in the series, “All Systems Red.”

The protagonist is a humanoid robot built with a blend of metal, silicon, and human tissue. The robot is a “sec unit,” a robot built to provide security to teams of humans operating in dangerous places. The series forces you to explore the definitions and boundaries of humanity and consciousness in a way that feels highly appropriate for what’s on the horizon. Mark, thank you for the recommendation—I highly enjoyed it! 

Figure AI is arguably a leader in the humanoid robotic space. It has several units already working at BMW factories. Peter Diamandis is an investor in the company. He interviewed Figure AI’s CEO not long ago. You can watch their discussion here.

China’s Unitree is both advancing personal robot technology and driving down costs. The company’s website shows dog-like robots jogging alongside their owner. And Unitree is developing humanoid robots as well. The global AI race is about more than just AI; it is also robotic. 

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As always, thanks for reading, and please do share your thoughts on this.

Ed D’Agostino
Publisher & COO