𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗶𝗱 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘁𝘀: 𝗛𝘆𝗽𝗲…𝗼𝗿 “𝗟𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝗚𝗼!”

 

𝗙𝗶𝘇𝘆𝗿.𝗔𝗜: 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗜 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

We’ve all seen tons of media, social postings – you name it – around humanoid robotic development in the last three to six months. We felt it was time to weigh in.

At Fizyr, 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 in the warehouse management space, in truck/container loading & unloading, and food processing – just to name a few.

However, in most 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲-𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 warehouse (or other) environments, full of moving conveyors, fork-lifts, heavy loads, with high-volume requirements, the tasks that require automation seem outside the wheelhouse of the humanoids. A few key points:

• While 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗶𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹-𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗸𝘀, specialized warehouse robots often excel in specific functions (e.g., heavy lifting, precise picking, high volume throughput).
• The GENERALIST nature of humanoids 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀, 𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, compared to “specialist” machines.
• Humanoid robots may struggle with the 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 required for delicate or irregular items, when compared to a task-specific end effector or gripper.

There is an element of flexibility that humanoids can bring to some use cases: We humans built a lot of these places for other humans to walk around, work, pick up stuff. However, 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 – or involves the ‘dull, dirty & dangerous’ jobs that humans are phasing out of in droves – we general see the specialized automation designs for full system integrations, and even many of the brownfield integrations, as the preferred choice.

Our conclusion: Yes, there is too much hype. It’s use-case dependent, of course. But many high-volume situations are not conducive to humanoid robot integration versus purpose-built automation cells.

Thanks for reading, comments welcome, of course.