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Why are human-like robots all the rage? Aren't there much better forms out there? I get that our society is built to be human adapted, but do we need robots to

Why are human-like robots all the rage? Aren't there much better forms out there? I get that our society is built to be human adapted, but do we need robots to be exactly general purpose tools like people are? Can't we just have maybe 5 different kinds (or maybe many more) that are more specially focused and so don't have to deal with all the headaches that come with making mechanical humans possible? The human form is so gangly and opinionated based on what we needed to do for millions of years from chimps and beyond. Why should our robots need to have the same shape as the organisms who only look like this because of numerous unrelated tasks WE had to be adapted for, like giving birth and climbing trees and running long distances and throwing spears?

megaman821 4y ago
The human form is great when it comes to scale. The world is made for the human form. Instead of making limited production runs of a robot that super-solves a particular task, they could make millions of generic robots with near-human capabilities.
sterlind 4y ago
Our niche as a species is complex tool use. I don't think it's a coincidence that tool use emerged in a species with gangly, flexible arms and opposable thumbs. If cats had become hyperintelligent rather than hominids, they'd probably have difficulty whittling and weaving (as much as they love yarn!) Form follows function. We evolved intelligence partly because we needed it to make full use of our very dexterous body plan. Maybe legs aren't necessary (lots of us make do with wheelchairs okay, after all), but having two arms with many degrees of freedom, opposable thumbs and articulated digits opens a lot of doors.
- JumpCrisscross 4y ago
  Also, all our tools are made for humanoids.
lern_too_spel 4y ago
The physical environment has been optimized for use by humanoids over the past millennium. Humanoid robots can operate all the tools that have already been built instead of requiring new ones.

megaman821 4y ago

The human form is great when it comes to scale. The world is made for the human form. Instead of making limited production runs of a robot that super-solves a particular task, they could make millions of generic robots with near-human capabilities.

sterlind 4y ago

Our niche as a species is complex tool use. I don't think it's a coincidence that tool use emerged in a species with gangly, flexible arms and opposable thumbs. If cats had become hyperintelligent rather than hominids, they'd probably have difficulty whittling and weaving (as much as they love yarn!) Form follows function. We evolved intelligence partly because we needed it to make full use of our very dexterous body plan. Maybe legs aren't necessary (lots of us make do with wheelchairs okay, after all), but having two arms with many degrees of freedom, opposable thumbs and articulated digits opens a lot of doors.

JumpCrisscross 4y ago
Also, all our tools are made for humanoids.

lern_too_spel 4y ago

The physical environment has been optimized for use by humanoids over the past millennium. Humanoid robots can operate all the tools that have already been built instead of requiring new ones.