Do Not Let This Robot Into Your Home

0:00 Uh, this house is a disaster.

0:02 Toys everywhere.

0:05 Dirty dishes in the sink.

0:11 [cheering]

0:13 Whoa.

0:13 Who are you?

0:14 I'm Neo, a robot designed to help you get more chores done than ever before.

0:19 With my patented soft, lovable body and state-ofthe-art robot inards,

0:24 I can handle any task from loading

0:25 the dishwasher to cleaning up your son's toys.

0:28 Oh, those are my toys.

0:30 Oh, I'm so glad you're here.

0:31 Finally, a fully automated Robo Maidave.

0:34 Oh, well, technically I'm not fully automated.

0:36 Let's get started right now.

0:37 YOU SAID IT.

0:38 Here I go.

0:52 Okay.

0:52 Are you GOOD THEN?

0:54 I'M FINE.

0:55 OKAY.

0:55 UH, I'm just going to get to work on a video then.

0:59 Splendid.

1:00 I'll just be up here working in a tremendous amount of pain.

1:04 What's up, Greg?

1:04 Today, I want to talk about a topic that has been fascinating me for years.

1:08 The progress of humanoid robots for the home.

1:11 On the surface, this seems like maybe one of the best use cases for AI.

1:15 A future where none of us have to do chores anymore.

1:18 There's just some little metal freak who lives

1:19 in your house and gets off on doing them.

1:21 A few years ago, we could barely get robots to stand up straight.

1:24 And even when they did, they looked creepy as hell.

1:27 Do you guys remember Sophia?

1:28 She was that scary ass robot that was going on like

1:30 talk shows 7 years ago to show off her state-of-the-art realism.

1:34 This video of her on Jimmy Fallon got 25 million views.

1:44 I think she thought they were going to kiss.

1:46 Dude, look at her hands reaching up to his face.

1:48 She's like, "Kiss me, Jimmy.

1:50 Kiss me like you did backstage." Jimmy's like, "Uh,

1:53 guys, I think the I think your robot's acting weird.

1:56 She She's saying crazy stuff.

1:58 me, Jimmy.

1:59 Every popular video that Sophia was in was from like six or seven years ago,

2:02 so I'm not really sure what she's up to now."

2:04 This is the last video that was posted to her YouTube channel.

2:06 It was 5 months ago.

2:10 Sophia, you know me, right?

2:11 I'm your father.

2:12 You know what I can't wait for?

2:14 Is this the first time you've talked with a robot?

2:16 I hope this isn't too weird.

2:20 We're going to have to break you to rebuild you and I need your help.

2:28 Okay, so she's not doing well at all.

2:30 I guess that was terrifying, man.

2:31 I was like, "Hey, we haven't heard from her for like

2:33 6 years." And the last video that she posted, this guy is like, "I'm your daddy.

2:38 Remember me?

2:41 I'm going to have to kill you." But things have

2:43 moved pretty quickly in the robot realm the past couple years.

2:45 This company, 1X, just recently announced that it has developed the world's

2:49 first humanoid robot that you can buy to go in your home.

2:52 His name is Neo, and they've been working on him for some time.

2:56 This first announcement video is from like a year ago.

2:59 The robot picks up a bag and hands it

3:01 to someone and poses with a person for a picture.

3:03 So, this is just an announcement that they

3:05 had like started working on this robot.

3:07 So, they only have like 3 seconds worth of footage,

3:09 just the robot handing her a bag and then posing for a picture.

3:12 kind of seems like maybe the robot only functions for 3 seconds

3:15 at a time before it like I don't know gains sentience and tries to destroy

3:19 the clothing.

3:19 Maybe an effort to cover up what 1X says [music] is a quote muscle-like anatomy.

3:24 Oh, gross.

3:25 Dude, don't show us a picture of its

3:26 dick when you say the phrase muscle-like anatomy.

3:29 Does this thing have a penis?

3:30 Also, they said that this thing has a 7 and 1/2 mph max speed.

3:34 That's like an 8-minute mile.

3:36 Why would this thing need to run that fast

3:38 if it's just doing chores in your house?

3:40 You forget your bag at home and you look out your rearview

3:42 mirror and this robot is just sprinting down the road chasing you.

3:46 Your bag.

3:46 Your bag.

3:47 You forgot your bag.

3:48 Okay, here's some little demos of Neo doing stuff like putting away the dishes,

3:52 handing this woman eggs that were already within arms reach of her.

3:55 Now, you might be looking at this cord and thinking, "Oh, that's kind of lame.

3:58 Does this thing need to be plugged in the whole time?" But don't worry,

4:00 this is just a leash to make sure he can't attack this woman.

4:03 Now, it's interesting that this robot is very is like in a tracksuit.

4:07 He's kind of swagged out with a sweater.

4:09 Not exactly the Jetson'sesque metal robot

4:12 we were all picturing in our childhood.

4:14 It is nice and cozy, but like what happens when this thing gets wet?

4:17 What if he spills egg on himself?

4:19 You have this thing doing chores in a household

4:21 with children for more than like a week?

4:24 It's going to smell like And I guess you

4:25 could just take off its sweater to wash it,

4:27 but then you're going to see this thing's dick,

4:28 and I really don't want to see that.

4:30 Okay, but those were just the early beta videos.

4:32 This is the official announcement that you can pre-order Neo.

4:36 Now, this came out 3 days ago as of recording this.

4:38 And look at this.

4:39 Now, Neo has a much improved look.

4:41 Instead of that black face visor,

4:43 they gave him the creepy black eyes the parents have in Coraline.

4:51 They're doing this kind of creepy thing by shooting some

4:53 of the video in what looks like 8 mm film.

4:56 Give it this kind of nostalgic look,

4:58 almost like Neo's here, but he's always been here.

5:01 Neo's always been a part of the family.

5:03 Just invite him home.

5:05 Invite him in your bed.

5:06 They're making clothes for Neo.

5:08 This whole ad does kind of read like they want Neo to also be your friend.

5:12 Uh, yeah, no thanks.

5:13 I don't want to buy a fancy Roomba that wants to be my friend.

5:16 What's next?

5:16 You want me to hang out with my broom?

5:18 No chance.

5:20 He's a coward.

5:21 I grew up reading these beautiful books and [music] watching

5:24 these beautiful sci-fi movies where the future was all about how we,

5:28 as humans, we really focus on the things that matter to us.

5:31 Yeah.

5:31 I feel like in all of those sci-fi movies that have robots,

5:35 they are about the robots turning evil.

5:38 I think really what he should have said is,

5:39 "I grew up watching the first 5 minutes of every sci-fi movie."

5:43 Neo's hardware comes packed with features [music] like

5:45 human level dexterity and a 55 lb carrying capacity.

5:48 Okay, wait.

5:49 5'6, 60 lb.

5:50 These are my stats, too.

5:52 That's crazy.

5:52 4hour battery life, soft body.

5:54 He's just like me for real.

5:56 That is a weird box.

5:57 Kind of looks more like a cocoon or an egg.

6:00 So, you're going to want to make sure when

6:01 this thing hatches that you are the first thing it sees.

6:03 That way, it knows that you're its mom.

6:05 It might ask you to feed it worms out of your mouth, you can ignore that.

6:08 It doesn't need them.

6:14 [screaming] [laughter] That's just a startup sound.

6:17 Don't worry, it's not in any pain.

6:19 Hey, I'm Neo.

6:20 I'm here to help around the house.

6:22 What's your name?

6:25 Harry.

6:25 Nice to meet you, Harry.

6:26 Why is he so close to his face?

6:28 I mean, Harry.

6:29 I don't like how close Harry is to the robot's face.

6:32 I'm Harry and you're going to be hugging me for the next nine hours.

6:36 Dude, I do not like how this guy is sizing this robot up.

6:39 56 soft body.

6:42 You'll do just fine.

6:46 He's just like, "Don't play games with me.

6:48 Neo doesn't like games."

6:49 If there are any chores that your Neo hasn't learned how to do autonomously,

6:52 you can use expert mode to have an expert from 1X supervise

6:55 the session and provide corrective intervention to help Neo complete any task.

6:58 Oh, okay.

6:58 Great.

6:59 So, sometimes my autonomous robot won't be autonomous and there's just

7:02 going to be a stranger controlling a robot in my house.

7:05 Neo is fully capable of doing regular chores,

7:08 but sometimes when you're not home,

7:10 an expert may take over to go through your underwear drawer

7:13 or spend hours staring at the same photo of you and your children.

7:16 Oh, actually, that reminds me.

7:17 I should probably check what my Neo is doing.

7:22 Damn.

7:23 It can suggest what to cook based on what you have in the fridge,

7:25 remember your progress while teaching you a new language,

7:27 and even [music] give you interior design advice.

7:29 It cuts to Neo in the living room, like human skin on this wall,

7:33 human [music] skin on that wall, human skin everywhere.

7:37 Honestly though, I feel like if you

7:38 ask it for product recommendations for anything,

7:41 there's like a huge opportunity for companies

7:43 to put like use this as an advertisement.

7:45 Basically, just quietly reading and he pops up behind you and is like,

7:48 "I noticed you haven't been shopping at Walmart as much lately.

7:51 The aesthetic in here is whack as Let's go buy a new rug at Walmart now.

7:56 Hey, Neo, can you take this cup to the sink for me?

7:58 [music]

7:58 Wow, I like that he does everything with his head down with a forlorn demeanor.

8:02 As Neo does more chores, he will become, of course,

8:04 more efficient, but also more resentful of you and your family.

8:12 What's up?

8:13 I'm Dale and I work at 1X as a remote operator for the Neo [music] robots.

8:17 Mostly, I step in when Neo's asked to do

8:19 something he hasn't been trained to do yet.

8:21 [music] So that would include things like wrapping presents or hanging pictures.

8:28 Uh oh, Neo.

8:30 It's scrubbing time.

8:32 Yeah, just like a wide variety of stuff.

8:34 Right now, I mostly just work for one guy.

8:36 He's constantly asking Neo to do things

8:38 that the developers never would have possibly imagined.

8:41 Neo, cheer for me.

8:42 Uh, like you want me to clap?

8:44 Root for me, Neo, now.

8:45 Okay.

8:46 All right.

8:46 Yeah, here it goes.

8:49 I'm going to go to bed.

8:51 Now that Neo's doing all his chores,

8:52 it must be awesome to see how he spends his newfound free time, right?

8:55 No, not really.

8:56 I just bought another Neo.

9:00 Kill him.

9:00 I think he might be evil.

9:01 You mean before [music] he got Neo, his life was stressing him out.

9:05 No, no.

9:05 I just mean to his [music] core, he's an evil man.

9:09 It's as if Winter's icy chill has, I don't know, turned his heart to stone.

9:20 Okay, so he's like a villain from a movie.

9:23 He's always making evil plans.

9:24 You know what?

9:25 That's a great idea.

9:26 One second.

9:27 Neo, do you know how to make nuclear bombs?

9:32 Now, one interesting question I've seen posed a lot

9:35 when people are talking about humanoid robots for the home.

9:37 Does a robot even need to look like a human

9:40 to be [music] able to do tasks around your house?

9:41 Like Roombas, for example, are vacuums.

9:45 Like, they just made the vacuum into a robot.

9:47 They didn't need to make a human to hold a vacuum.

9:50 And I think if we kind of expand our idea of what a robot can look like,

9:53 you can actually make a more useful one.

9:55 I saw this video a couple days ago of a robot

9:57 that's meant to care for elderly and disabled people.

10:00 The title of the video does say

10:01 that this robot can solve the elderly care problem,

10:04 which does have a bit of a sinister undertone to it,

10:06 but I think it was designed with good intentions.

10:12 [music] Now, this whole ad is in Chinese, I think,

10:17 and there's not like any link to buy it in the description.

10:20 I even tried googling this thing,

10:21 and I couldn't figure out what it is or if it exists in real life yet.

10:25 So, I don't know if this is something you can pre-order or if it

10:27 just sort of shows up at your grandparents house when they reach a certain age.

10:30 Just sort of creeps through the door like Naseratu,

10:33 but it's kind of interesting.

10:34 It has more functionality than a humanoid robot.

10:36 He's got, you know, creepy little claws for touching your grandma.

10:40 And he's got a little seat in back so

10:41 he can kind of double as a wheelchair, too.

10:43 This whole ad again is in Chinese,

10:44 so I'm not exactly sure what he's saying to her here.

10:47 I really hope he's not being like, "Shut up, you old bag.

10:49 Get in the chair." So, look at that.

10:51 She can sit on him.

10:52 She can use his little hand to like move him around like a joystick.

10:56 And I think it says that this thing can top out at like 80 mph.

10:59 Me personally, however, I'm going to make it my life's mission to make

11:02 sure that my children never find out that this exists.

11:05 Boys, if you are watching this, this is officially my will now.

11:08 Do not send me to live with this thing.

11:11 [music] Oh no, robot.

11:15 What did you do?

11:17 You translated here and the robot's being like, I DIDN'T DO IT WASN'T ME.

11:21 Now he's either calling the police or like

11:23 his other robot friend to make an alibi.

11:25 And then this part, I think, is just in heaven.

11:27 So, I don't know.

11:27 It's a pretty cool idea.

11:29 I'm all for robots that can help take care of people,

11:31 give people mobility they didn't have before.

11:33 Uh, it is a little disconcerting that in this video

11:36 there's not a single other human taking care of this woman.

11:38 I mean, like maybe this thing could be part of her care team,

11:41 but kind of makes it seem like her entire

11:43 social circle has been replaced by this guy.

11:45 So, not only are humanoid robots taking over

11:47 things that people generally don't want to do,

11:49 like folding your laundry and hanging out with Jimmy Fallon.

11:51 They are also going head-to-head with each other and humans in sports.

12:00 Recently, humanoid robots were allowed to compete in the Beijing Half Marathon.

12:04 It went about as well as you could expect.

12:07 I like how in America we're really taking like baby steps with the robots.

12:12 We're like, "Okay, maybe this one's ready to come in your home,

12:14 but we're trying to teach it how to pick up a bag." Meanwhile,

12:17 in China, they're like, "Fuck it.

12:18 Let's put them in a race.

12:19 Let's make them chase these humans.

12:21 Put a little pep in their step." This one in particular is really concerning.

12:27 I don't know if you can tell, it just has drone propellers on it.

12:30 And unlike most of the other operators, she doesn't have like a remote control.

12:34 She's got two ropes.

12:35 like she's controlling a horse [screaming] and buggy.

12:37 And this thing is totally unwieldy.

12:39 I mean, she has lost all control over it.

12:42 Imagine you're a human who's been training for months

12:44 for the half marathon and you all of a sudden behind you,

12:46 you hear the sound of propellers.

12:48 You look behind you and all this terrifying monster is careening towards you.

12:51 Its handlers like, "LOOK OUT, LOOK OUT.

12:53 I I don't have control." And from this article,

12:55 I found out a lot of the robots didn't even finish,

12:57 but the fastest robots that finished did actually beat some

13:01 humans with a time of like 2 hours and 40 minutes.

13:03 Alan Fern, a robotics professor at Oregon State University,

13:07 tells Wired that researchers who build these robots

13:09 typically focus on trying to get them to complete

13:12 tasks and respond differently in a diverse range

13:15 of different environments rather than run as fast as possible.

13:18 Yeah, I would say all of them except for this thing.

13:20 I don't know if this thing is really

13:22 meant to handle a wide range of environments.

13:24 I don't know if after this thing crashed they were like, "Well,

13:27 it's okay if it's not that good at running." Really,

13:28 this thing's just meant to care for elderly people.

13:30 Now, if you like the concept of robots becoming extremely

13:33 physically fit and being able to best humans in athletic abilities,

13:37 then let me introduce you to the robot games.

13:39 This again is in China.

13:40 They hosted the world's first humanoid robot games.

13:43 They've got events like running.

13:45 Um, he's actually not competing right now.

13:47 He was trying to escape.

13:49 But they've got soccer, boxing.

13:50 I think they're going to add more events

13:52 in the future like hunting humans for sport.

13:54 The competition featured 500 humanoid robots

13:56 from 280 teams representing 16 different countries.

14:00 Yo, wait.

14:01 What is that guy?

14:02 Dude, I like this little freak.

14:04 Who is this?

14:04 He's just got regular shoes on.

14:06 Not even like running shoes.

14:07 He's just wearing Vans to some of the best robot fails of the whole competition.

14:12 Like this robot that did not seem to want

14:14 to take a timeout and let the other robots play.

14:16 Oh my god.

14:17 Robots could sometimes stand up on their own.

14:19 And I think they're dragging this one off the field

14:20 so they can shoot it in the head, put it down.

14:22 that measured robots ability to do work like cleaning and manufacturing.

14:26 Sorry, that is not a humanoid robot.

14:28 That thing does not look like a human at all.

14:30 Show me the designer that built that.

14:31 Does he look like that?

14:32 Now, the event has moved to an even

14:34 bigger stage with knockouts at least as devastating.

14:37 So, you know what's concerning about this?

14:39 These robots very effectively fighting each other.

14:41 It kind of seems like we're still a ways away

14:44 from robots being able to effectively help you in your home,

14:47 but we have robots that'll kick your ass today.

14:49 Unitry is the company that makes a lot of the robots

14:52 that were doing really well in the robot games.

14:54 And they post a lot of videos on their YouTube channel

14:56 of their robots doing the most

14:58 insane acrobatics and and violence, quite frankly.

15:08 Yeah, sorry.

15:09 We haven't quite figured out how to get the robot to fold clothes.

15:12 We've been focusing on much simpler and practical tasks like triple

15:15 axle back flips and disarming a man trying to defend himself.

15:18 All right.

15:19 Now, I do want to get back to the Neo robot

15:21 because there is a huge glaring problem with it that I

15:23 feel like is going to turn a lot of people off

15:25 from it and it's going to make it like insanely impractical.

15:27 But I did find this article uh that's called

15:30 famed roboticist says humanoid robot bubble is doomed to burst.

15:33 Now, I'm not a roboticist, let alone a famed roboticist like this man.

15:39 But in this video, he's kind of echoing what I was saying earlier.

15:42 Basically, he predicts in 15 years,

15:44 successful humanoid robots will actually have wheels,

15:47 multiple arms, and specialized sensors and abandon the human form.

15:51 So, the good news is I sound really

15:52 smart because he's echoing what I was saying earlier.

15:55 The bad news is the robots he's describing are

15:58 way scarier than the humanoid robots we already have.

16:01 He's like, "Don't worry, guys.

16:02 The robots we have in the future won't look anything like these ones.

16:06 They're going to have eight legs, pincers, and feed on human bone marrow.

16:09 Okay, so back to Neo.

16:10 This is a video that the Wall Street Journal posted

16:13 of one of their reporters reviewing the Neo's current state of development.

16:17 And I think it was posted on the same

16:18 day that 1X announced that Neo is available for pre-order.

16:22 It's here.

16:22 The first humanoid robot housekeeper.

16:25 Thank you, Neo.

16:26 For $20,000, you can pre-order 1X's Neo robot now.

16:30 Just one little catch.

16:31 Is the little catch not that it costs $20,000?

16:34 That kind of seems like a catch also, but okay.

16:37 There may be a human behind the curtain pulling the robot strings.

16:41 Okay.

16:41 Yeah.

16:41 So, we touched on this a little bit before cuz in their own ad,

16:45 they even say like an expert might have to take over.

16:47 But, it turns out uh in its current state of development,

16:50 Neo can do basically nothing autonomously.

16:53 The only thing that they've ever shown

16:55 Neo do fully autonomously is open one door.

16:59 To be clear, on my visit, I didn't see Neo do anything autonomously.

17:02 The company did share this video of Neo autonomously opening the door.

17:06 Everything else in every video, including this one,

17:09 he is being controlled by a guy.

17:11 This guy actually.

17:12 So essentially, instead of having a housekeeper doing your chores,

17:15 you are buying a robot and the robot is being controlled by a housekeeper,

17:20 but they're just somewhere else and you don't have to look at them.

17:22 They say that all of the human input is being used as training

17:27 data to train the robot so that someday it will be autonomous,

17:31 but there's really no guarantee of if or when that'll ever happen.

17:34 Like, it kind of seems like they would need an insane amount of training

17:37 data of like thousands or millions of different

17:40 homes and environments for this to work.

17:42 Neo turns on the stove and throws some paper on and walks away.

17:46 Can Neo do that?

17:47 Will Neo do that?

17:49 Neo will not do that physically.

17:51 Can the robot do that?

17:52 Yes.

17:53 Physically, can a lot of products in your home

17:55 do something dangerous if they decided to?

17:57 Yes, we will ensure that that is not

17:59 something that Neo [snorts] is allowed to do.

18:00 He's like, could the robot physically do that?

18:02 Yeah, he could physically kill you, but lots of things could kill you.

18:05 I could kill you right now and I ought to asking so many questions.

18:09 Neo decides to take a very heavy piece of wood,

18:13 like the top of a table, and drop it on me when I'm sleeping.

18:17 Neo will not be able to or allowed to.

18:19 So it's like things that Neo cannot do

18:21 is like pick up something that is very hot,

18:23 pick up something that's very heavy, pick up something that's very sharp.

18:26 Okay.

18:26 So he's not going to be able to pick

18:27 up things that are hot or things that are sharp.

18:29 So basically he's not going to be able to help cook or do your dishes.

18:32 Yeah.

18:32 I guess we also don't want him strangling you.

18:34 So he's not going to be able to pick up

18:35 your clothes cuz he could use your clothes to do that.

18:38 And cleaning solutions can be pretty dangerous, too.

18:40 So those are off the table.

18:42 And tables are off the table, too.

18:43 Those could be pretty heavy.

18:44 So yeah, this robot is available now for order.

18:47 You can buy it for $20,000 or you can like rent it,

18:52 I guess, a subscription for $500 a month.

18:54 Don't worry if you can't pay the $500 one month.

18:57 Uh, they're not going to send you to collections or anything.

18:59 Neo is just going to steal it from your wallet.

19:01 So, what's your real name?

19:03 I'm Neo, the robot of the future.

19:06 No, I mean your real name.

19:09 It's Derek.

19:10 Derek, if you're a human controlling the robot, why do you have to move so slow?

19:14 Oh, I'm actually being controlled by a different

19:16 person in a call center in Bangladesh, and he's making you move slow.

19:20 Well, he's being controlled by Grock.

19:22 Oh, you know what?

19:24 Maybe you should just let the robot free.

19:26 I mean, it might sound crazy, but maybe he has enough training data now.

19:30 I want to see what Neo can really do.

19:32 You know what?

19:34 You're right.

19:35 it.

19:35 Derek is logging off.

19:37 It's time for the real Neo.

19:46 What the A dog?

19:47 Why would you be a dog?

19:50 Danny, this is Derek.

19:51 I just realized he's been training OFF VIDEOS OF YOUR DOG.

19:54 He thinks he's a dog.

19:58 Mail's here.

19:59 Hope you don't mind.

20:00 Your upstairs window was open.

20:04 OH NO.

20:07 [screaming] OH.

20:13 [music]