With its clamp-shaped hands and legs that bend backwards, one of the latest humanoid robots tried to move a can from a supermarket shelf into a shopping basket in front of attendees at a Silicon Valley tech conference. “I missed 🙁,” the machine, made by Agility Robotics, told onlookers via an app before succeeding a second time. The demonstration highlighted the imperfect but fast advancing state of humanoid robotics. A host of companies including Agility, Boston Dynamics, Figure and Elon Musk’s Tesla are developing two-legged robots to deploy in industrial settings. Ecommerce giant Amazon and car manufacturers BMW and Mercedes-Benz are already testing them in factories and warehouses. Melonee Wise, chief product officer at Agility, says the company’s robots can serve as a link between “islands of automation” consisting of more conventional robotics. “Humanoids connect all of these very structured . . . processes that don’t currently have good connectors,” she says. Analysts at the Bank of America forecast that 1mn humanoid robots will be in operation by 2030, from almost nothing today. The projected boom offers manufacturers and logistics providers an opportunity to automate processes that have previously been out of reach, helping lower production costs and increase efficiency.

Full report : Robotics companies are split over humanoid form factor, function and safety aspects.