6 ms·

We are close. Language models and large vision models have transformed robotics. It just takes some time to get hardware up and running.

kelnos 2y ago
I think it would be many decades before I'd trust a robot like that around small children or pets. Robots with that kind of movement capability, as well as the ability it pick up and move things around, will be heavy enough that a small mistake could easily kill a small child or pet.
- viraptor 2y ago
  That's a solved problem for small devices. And we effectively have "robots" like that all over the place. Sliding doors in shops/trains/elevators have been around for ages and they include sensors for resistance. Unless there's 1. extreme cost cutting, or 2. bug in the hardware, devices like that wouldn't kill children these days.
  - nickjj 2y ago
    > Sliding doors in shops/trains/elevators have been around for ages and they include sensors for resistance Some of these are pretty crazy too. Here's a video from 14 years ago where a table saw stops fast enough that it didn't scratch a hotdog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq3o0VGUh50 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq3o0VGUh50 So even if this hypothetical robot had saws for hands it could be mostly safe (in theory).
- layer8 2y ago
  Even for adults, a robot that would likely have to be close to as massive as a human being, in order to do laundry and the like, would spook me out, moving freely through my place.
  - foxglacier 2y ago
    You'd learn to trust it. People have pet dogs that could kill them if they wanted. As can other humans walking around your house.
    - Jensson 2y ago
      People also have essentially wild beasts in their home: cats. If cats were the size of small dogs they would kill people all the time, but we love them when they are small enough so they just claw you bloody. Since we can live with that we can live with anything that doesn't outright murder us.
leonheld 2y ago
> have transformed robotics Did they? Where? Seriously, I genuinely want to know who is employing these techniques.
- bobxmax 2y ago
  All frontier labs are now employing LVMs or LLMs. But that's my point is you won't see the fruits of it this early.
  - achierius 2y ago
    That's the point being made. It's transformed robotics research, yes, but it both remains to see whether it will have a truly transformative effect on the field as experienced by people outside academia (I think this is quite probable) and more pointedly when.
    - stuartjohnson12 2y ago
      I think this is an opinion borne out of weariness with constant promises that amazing robots are right around the corner (as they have been for 20 odd years now). For anyone who is close to the front line, I think the resounding consensus is clear - this time is different, unbelievably different, and capability development is going to accelerate dramatically.
    - bobxmax 2y ago
      I think it's impossible to spend a lot of time with these models without believing robotics is fundamentally about to transform. Even the most sophisticated versions of robotic logic pre-LLM/VLM feel utterly trivial compared to what even rudimentary applications of these large models can accomplish.
      - lucianbr 2y ago
        > have transformed robotics When questioned: > believing robotics is fundamentally about to transform These are not even remotely the same thing. Something that has happened already and is verifiable fact is not the same thing as your opinion, even if your opinion is based on a lot of sound arguments and reasoning. Very tiresome to read so many claims of fact based on opinion of what will happen in the future.

kelnos 2y ago

I think it would be many decades before I'd trust a robot like that around small children or pets. Robots with that kind of movement capability, as well as the ability it pick up and move things around, will be heavy enough that a small mistake could easily kill a small child or pet.

viraptor 2y ago
That's a solved problem for small devices. And we effectively have "robots" like that all over the place. Sliding doors in shops/trains/elevators have been around for ages and they include sensors for resistance. Unless there's 1. extreme cost cutting, or 2. bug in the hardware, devices like that wouldn't kill children these days.
- nickjj 2y ago
  > Sliding doors in shops/trains/elevators have been around for ages and they include sensors for resistance Some of these are pretty crazy too. Here's a video from 14 years ago where a table saw stops fast enough that it didn't scratch a hotdog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq3o0VGUh50 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq3o0VGUh50 So even if this hypothetical robot had saws for hands it could be mostly safe (in theory).
layer8 2y ago
Even for adults, a robot that would likely have to be close to as massive as a human being, in order to do laundry and the like, would spook me out, moving freely through my place.
- foxglacier 2y ago
  You'd learn to trust it. People have pet dogs that could kill them if they wanted. As can other humans walking around your house.
  - Jensson 2y ago
    People also have essentially wild beasts in their home: cats. If cats were the size of small dogs they would kill people all the time, but we love them when they are small enough so they just claw you bloody. Since we can live with that we can live with anything that doesn't outright murder us.

leonheld 2y ago

> have transformed robotics Did they? Where? Seriously, I genuinely want to know who is employing these techniques.

bobxmax 2y ago
All frontier labs are now employing LVMs or LLMs. But that's my point is you won't see the fruits of it this early.
- achierius 2y ago
  That's the point being made. It's transformed robotics research, yes, but it both remains to see whether it will have a truly transformative effect on the field as experienced by people outside academia (I think this is quite probable) and more pointedly when.
  - stuartjohnson12 2y ago
    I think this is an opinion borne out of weariness with constant promises that amazing robots are right around the corner (as they have been for 20 odd years now). For anyone who is close to the front line, I think the resounding consensus is clear - this time is different, unbelievably different, and capability development is going to accelerate dramatically.
  - bobxmax 2y ago
    I think it's impossible to spend a lot of time with these models without believing robotics is fundamentally about to transform. Even the most sophisticated versions of robotic logic pre-LLM/VLM feel utterly trivial compared to what even rudimentary applications of these large models can accomplish.
    - lucianbr 2y ago
      > have transformed robotics When questioned: > believing robotics is fundamentally about to transform These are not even remotely the same thing. Something that has happened already and is verifiable fact is not the same thing as your opinion, even if your opinion is based on a lot of sound arguments and reasoning. Very tiresome to read so many claims of fact based on opinion of what will happen in the future.