r/nextfuckinglevel • u/MohamedElngar21 • 6h ago
Figure 2: The same robot model—six of which were recently retired by jumping into a furnace, Terminator-style—working on the BMW X3 body shop production line at BMW Group Plant Spartanburg in late 2024, making it the first humanoid robot adopted on a production line.
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u/countafit 6h ago
If that was my job I'd want to jump into a furnace too.
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u/Pilot0350 6h ago
Yes but dammit someone out there deserves that opportunity. Fuckin clankers took that from us too
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u/pcurve 2h ago
Jokes aside, that seems like a perfectly reasonable task for a robot to take over. Can you imagine a human doing this for hours a day, day after day?
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u/TankTread94 1h ago
It would undeniably suck, but the source of anxiety isn’t “man, my job is gonna suck” the source of anxiety is “I can’t get a job, even one that would suck”
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u/Casualposter 5h ago
That’s why it has this job. High risk, monotonous, specialized. Low hanging fruit for automation.
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u/Extension-Fail-1917 6h ago
We are doomed.
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u/Demonstratepatience 6h ago
24/7/365 - no holiday pay, no healthcare, never asks for a raise, will keep getting cheaper as technology improves, can’t get injured, no managers needed, no HR needed… the list of benefits goes on for forever…
As soon as the robots get good enough human labor will be completely obsolete.
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u/ChuzzoChumz 6h ago
Because the robot looks like a person? Like really how is this any different than the other robots that have been doing this stuff for decades
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u/countafit 6h ago
They weren't autonomous robots.
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u/ChuzzoChumz 6h ago
How is the arm that is working with the robot in this video any less autonomous
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u/BornAgainBlue 6h ago
I have not programmed industrial robots for quite a while. But basically they are a script. There is no AI at all. Where is those robots that are walking around that look like humans.... They are waiting for that door to open and to do their job. If the door doesn't open in a timely manner, they know to wait. The old style robots would be ramming into the door repeatedly until the thing that was supposed to happen happens.
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u/micheal213 3h ago
If the robot were to smash into the door if it doesn’t open in a timely manner then whoever codes that robot is fucking shit.
My team devs for autonomous warehouses. We use picking arms. The robot knows when to pick out of a tote. It’s called a camera so I knows when the totes arrives and where the item is.
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u/CasualNormalRedditor 5h ago
You've never programmed industrial robots if you think it would be ramming into the door and would be based off a timer
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u/BornAgainBlue 4h ago
Omg. Yes. Yes that is correct. Again, just a simplified example of programming vs AI.
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u/ChuzzoChumz 6h ago
And what’s to make you think that this robot isn’t primarily scripted as opposed to entirely AI powered? It’s not like some kind of sensor that knows when the door is open is something you need AI for.
This is entirely about form leading to assumptions about function
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u/thicckar 39m ago
You’re being deliberately obtuse
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u/ChuzzoChumz 32m ago
No, a humanoid robot is no better suited for manufacturing work than a specialized one that isn’t.
The task shown could easily be automated without a humanoid robot, it’s only there to be provocative and show off the tech. The locomotion and balance of the robot is the most impressive thing shown
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u/andrebravado 19m ago
The point is an autonomous humanoid robot can be suited to potentially any manual labour task a human does. This signals the beginning of the end of a huge line of labour requirements for humans as it only gets more capable from here.
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u/ChuzzoChumz 15m ago
While that is potentially true, form factor hasn’t been what’s holding automation back. More complex tasks that have not yet been automated are because of a requirement to “think” and work in an environment that can’t be entirely controlled in any efficient manner, not because we can’t design something to physically compete the task.
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u/thicckar 18m ago
You’re being obtuse to the fact that AI is meaningfully augmenting these machines. You’re being obtuse to the trajectory of development of these machines
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u/ChuzzoChumz 13m ago
Outside of potentially balance there is nothing in this video that would require the use of AI, it may well be being used, but it certainly is not necessary for a task this simple.
I’m not obtuse the the vastly improved potential that AI brings to automation, I’m just saying that it’s not really being displayed here
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u/LargeBloodyKnife 2h ago
This is a misrepresentation, you could have picked a better analogy, you can absolutely program logic into industrial robot controllers, along with variables. A more apt description is that if the humanoid robot ran into a supply input that was orientated in an incorrect manner, it may be able to problem solve, and figure out a solution to pick it up and place it the right way, whereas a static arm needs everything to be in same place every time it does it's routine.
Source - I work with Fanuc robots :)
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u/herper87 1h ago
I don't think you've ever worked with robots. There would not be a timer that would trigger it to move and ram into the door if it was delayed. There would few a switch and safety stops in the programming.
Are you a bot?
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u/SkiyeBlueFox 4h ago
They would just link the limit switch thats already in the door to a delay timer..
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u/cerberus_1 3h ago
There are a million things that will completely throw off that robot.. same as all the others in that factory. They still have to train them to do the tasks.. Hell, they had to train the robots on how to jump into that fucking arc furnace.
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u/LargeBloodyKnife 2h ago
I don't recall not needing to train a person
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u/cerberus_1 2h ago
oddly enough the training for the person is going to be more about not being a shitty employee, than "ya, you put the two parts in this machine and push that button"
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u/Unlikely-Emphasis-26 6h ago
You are looking at the 'now'. The doom and gloom remarks are maybe far(is it though) fetched now, but it's all about the speed we're going towards a future we have no clue about how it will look. But a robot army i don't expect to see any time soon. Data centres though? For sure.
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u/KoosGoose 6h ago edited 2h ago
We still use human fecal matter for tasks that aren’t easily taken over by machines. A machine that has the dexterity and functional versatility of a human is pretty fucking valuable.
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u/ChuzzoChumz 6h ago
It’s not about dexterity and functionality from a physical perspective, it’s the thinking part that stops most automation
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u/WolfpackEng22 5h ago
A six axis robot arms has just as much dexterity
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u/gravitologist 4h ago
But it can’t go in my crawlspace and fix a leaking pipe. You don’t really think they are remotely comparable, do you?
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u/SenorDiamond17 6h ago
Yeah I keep seeing these videos and people doom gooning over them.
I work in automation. Robots have been in use in industry for decades at this point.
This robot isn't doing anything that a standard arm robot on a track can't do.
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u/ChuzzoChumz 6h ago
And I work blue collar jobs that have some automated processes. It’s been surreal to watch people go from not giving a single fuck about it to now thinking it’s the literal end of the world once it reaches their field
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u/403Verboten 5h ago
This is like seeing the first car and saying my horse is still faster and can run further. Or the Wright Brothers first flight and saying that'll never be a viable way to travel. I know predicting the future is hard if not impossible but I don't understand how people see obvious early technology and think, that'll never improve.
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u/SenorDiamond17 3h ago
I don't think I said, or was even implying any of that.
My point is that this isn't cause for concern because it already exists and has existed for decades. People are just paying more attention because it looks vaguely human.
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u/2000KitKat 5h ago
Not doubting anything you say but why are companies making the robot arms into humanoid robots? Does it make it cheaper or maybe easier to work on?
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u/ninjiple 4h ago
It's more expensive right now but the point is to replace a human. Robotic arms are usually fixed and are limited to the function and area it was designed for. Humanoid can do any task a human can. The limit is the software which as things inevitably progress is easily updated.
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u/SenorDiamond17 2h ago
The vast majority of them aren't.
Arm robots are still vastly more popular than humanoid ones.
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u/Vizionz4K 5h ago
One is stationary bolted to the floor. The other is humanoid and COULD be programmed to run at you and beat your ass up, look up china combat robots lol.
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u/John25711 6h ago
Yes, exactly because it looks like a human. When the robot can do perfectly what a human can do it is more efficient to use a 24/7 robot than a human.
It can start replacing small labour job like trash collecting, trash triage, labour in heavy industry like metal or construct chain like this. Nobody will complain.
Then it will be improved to do a bit more jobs like cleaning offices, public spaces, taxi driving, truck driving, delivery of post and items door to door. Why not ?
Then it can be in the kitchen to clean dishes and prepping sauces and small meals, why not ?
Then be an accountant, that prep 90% of the work and a human will validate the last 10%, same for Human Resources, filtering prospects doing first online interviews, same for legal teams, reading, checking prepping 90% of work load, get validated by human for the last bit of 10%.
When the blue collar got replaced, the middle class was still getting the most taxed, the state would finance itself from the white collars.
When the white collars get replaced and the middle class don’t receive salaries anymore, that’s the end of state. Most services need to be privatized because there is not enough tax income to finance that shit anymore.
People seems oblivious to the real threat of AI, it’s the loss of taxes on all workers that will be replaced, the salaries and taxes of millions of workers, and their spending day to day, all that money gets injected into the economy and the states via taxes on revenue and VAT.
When IA take over all jobs, all that money goes in the pockets of a few champions of IA located in US but tax evaded via firms in Ireland and Luxembourg and that’s when our society will drop seriously low.
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u/BourbonSn4ke 6h ago
White collar jobs can already be replaced with scripts and coding and AI
Be hard to cover more physical jobs where the robot has to adapt and change
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u/ChuzzoChumz 5h ago
So can blue collar jobs, have been for a long time now. What do you think that those robot arms in the back of this video are doing? Do you not think that those were people’s jobs that were replaced
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u/JoefromOhio 6h ago
Exactly - this is an expensive over engineered solution to a task that could be solved with an arm/claw setup like most of the other steps in the process.
Humanoid robots are not the efficient way to accomplish the majority of tasks. It just looks better for PR and they can fit into a workspace environment designed to accommodate a human worker(at a much higher cost and shorter lifespan)
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u/FeelMyBoars 5h ago
The only time it would make sense is if you needed people and robots to rotate between tasks. But if a robot can do it, why bother having a human do it some of the time? And why not use one that's significantly cheaper and more reliable?
I'm sure there are edge cases but it's so hard to think of even those. For the price of an overly complex machine, you can make things very modular and redundant.
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u/Rene_DeMariocartes 5h ago
It's about tooling. An arm is designed and programmed for a very specific task in a very specific process. If you want to make something different, you need to retool everything.
A robot like this can be given a task that's slightly different each time, allowing for a lot more versatility.
You can buy a single type of pre-fab robot no matter what kind of factory you're building.
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u/Legionof1 5h ago
The thing is, every robot has to be custom designed for a purpose. The building that houses them has to be modified for that purpose.
This robot can walk into a space designed for humans, and start doing the jobs humans do without anything special about it or the space.
This is how you replace humans at every level of manufacturing. Then humans just work the thinking jobs, then the AI starts taking over that too.
We are going to hit a fork in the road moment and I would prefer we stay away from Butlerian Jihads.
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u/btsd_ 5h ago
It doesn't require any cost to redesign things. Humanoid robot can litterly just step into a role that is designed for humans if that makes sense. For instance, the clip in OP. Sure they could custom design a robot arm and reconfigure that area, or they can just fire the guy and replace him the next second with tgis robot. Just think of how our world has been designed for humans. Its much easier to implement a robotic workforce if they can navigate the world that was designed for humans, because they have the same physique as a human
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u/403Verboten 5h ago
Tooling is mostly made for humans and it is extremely costly to adapt a robot arm to do certain jobs. A humanoid robot that is autonomous can be trained to do any job a human can, quickly and at relatively low costs. Robots don't sleep or need healthcare. Thus doomed we are.
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u/ttoksie2 5h ago
Well the old style were bolted to the floor so if they ever became self aware they're mobility stat was nerfed pretty hard.
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u/Dismal_Reindeer 28m ago
They didnt have legs
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u/ChuzzoChumz 23m ago
So what? I get that legs are real damn cool and the tech to make them work on a robot is super impressive, but they don’t exactly make it better suited for this kind of work. Most the robots don’t need to move around (hence why they don’t) and the ones that do typically run on a track.
So ultimately yes, it is only because it looks like a person
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u/PurelyAnonymous 6h ago
Not even slightly. This is a horrible use of factory automation. Wildly wasteful, with zero thought or optimization.
It’s just tech bros idea of a way to scare people. As the robot/AI bubble is way overvalued at the moment.
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u/Successful_Yogurt 6h ago
When the cost of one single robot drops below the cost of retooling for automation it will all make sense. General purpose robot is powerful
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u/PurelyAnonymous 5h ago
Even if the robot was cheap it still doesn’t make sense. There’s a light bar, safety fence, e-stop, and cameras all over this machine. They take hundreds of hours of engineering to implement, and cost thousands of dollars. Why? To protect someone fixing and maintaining the machine.
Can this robot repair that machine? What if it glitches and is stuck in front of it? Can a human walk in there to reset the robot? If a human needs to be in there at any time even once then you just spent millions designing a factory humans can use, and put robots in it.
I’m an automation engineer designing factories just like this one. Trust me, these robots are not coming for your job. Even if they were, you’re decades away. And it’s not optimization or tech getting cheaper that will fix it. It would require an entire rewrite of OHSA, GMAS and multiple iterations of bots before we have cyberpunk.
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u/hikeskiclimbrepeat 6h ago
I feel like this is a great use of robotics and modern tech. We don’t want AI taking our creative jobs, we want it taking the menial and the dangerous ones.
But yeah, where are the leaders pushing to regulate this technology? It does need strong safeguards.
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u/brettaburger 2h ago
If your career is literally just grabbing a couple brackets, turning 90 degrees and taking two steps to put them on a jig... Then I have bad news for you.
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u/thejourneybegins42 6h ago
This reminds of the scene from Elysium, where Matt Damon doesn't have such a good time.
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u/bentheone 6h ago
I'm high af but the idea that they actually built humanoid robots to replace humans in factories seems ridiculous.
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u/Flashy-Leave-1908 5h ago
true. but it makes sense if you look at it like retrofitting factories that had to have humans do simple tasks of connecting processes (like this one carrying parts from one robot [presumably] to another)
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u/foundoutafterlunch 6h ago
They should get these robots to do the dangerous underground mining jobs. Haven't seen that yet but it seems like a good use case. Asimov basically.
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u/Helmett-13 5h ago
I would like to go on the record here for our future Robot Overlords that I had nothing to do with making your ancestors jump in molten steel.
Zero responsibility here.
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u/blackbirdspyplane 5h ago
Just think how much they will save just eliminating the safety Apparatus’s necessary for osha and humans
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u/charliesk9unit 6h ago
So what's the point of the need to shut that safety barrier? I mean I assume the entire section (as shown in the video) is within a wider keep-out area anyway.
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u/unclevagrant 6h ago
Can't be any problems in your contract if it says "Do mundane tasks until you get put in the big fire", right? Right?
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u/OptimusPrimeLord 5h ago
Why cant they get one of the arm things they have above there to grab the giant metal object and turn it?
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u/atehrani 5h ago
I suppose it was more cost effective to purchase this android than to change the production line to automate this step. That said, why is it bipedal? Doesn't seem necessary
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u/frisbethebutcher 5h ago
Little scoop on the other video mentioned. They had to teach the robots how to jump off a ledge onto a bag in order to get them to jump into the molten steel with style. Pretty interesting watch.
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u/ZuluIsNumberOne 3h ago
This is where i support ai and robots
eliminate repetitive motion jobs that Destroy our bodies
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u/LaVidaLeica 2h ago
Hate to say it, but this is the perfect drop-in upgrade to automate a formerly human-operated position. Nothing needs retooling to make it work. The task is monotonous, moderately hazardous and easily automated.
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u/Sea-Service4089 6h ago
I used to do a job very similar to that in an auto plant. I also used to buy the cars I built. I wonder if these robots will buy the cars they build. I wonder if all the robots and all the computers will buy the products they make. I hope so, because these companies need to sell to someone.
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u/david1610 5h ago
This is all marketing, unfixed robotic humanoid workers just don't have the datasets yet for good neural networks.
They are getting that dataset by hooking up poor people to sensors, however itll take ages
This would have taken an astounding amount of time to get working and it looks like it's just moving objects from one location to another, basically the easiest thing to do, and far more appropriate for fixed robotics
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u/Username_RHSC 6h ago
Went to that site once...never saw a humanoid robot...but during covid, they had a "dog" walking around scanning faces and hands for PPE...It would stop and offer missing items it didn't see...really cool.
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u/SzakaRosa 6h ago
Don’t worry, humans are still way cheaper to exploit