Personal Freedom: A Humanoid, Not A Car

Yesteryear, United States.

A teenager awaits their 16th birthday as the ultimate jump in personal freedom.

Once he has a drivers license, he can go wherever he wants. Whenever he wants. With whomever he wants.

Cars used to represent this freedom. What if humanoids provide a larger jump in personal freedom?

No longer have to clean your room, take out the trash, or fold your laundry. Finally free to do whatever you want at home too.

At What Cost?

Do you mean cost to society giving up those responsibilities? For all of human history we’ve used technology to replace tasks or entire jobs we don’t want to do. There’s adjustments, but we’ll get over it.

So what is the cost of a humanoid robot?

The Chinese company Unitree announced the price of their G1 model: $16,000.

That is at the low end of estimates for the earliest releases. 1X Robotics said it will be price similar to a mid-range car and drop to $5000 over time.

If you want to learn more about in-home humanoids, this interview with 1X Robotics CEO is a good listen.

Humanoid Job Creation

The interview was one of the first that I have heard talk about the gig economy that will pop up to remotely control or train a humanoid (starts at 56:30).

It is important to note that remotely controlling the robot is the same as training it. Once you do the task in your own space, helping it understand your unique needs, then the next time you might not have to.

Perfect memory + precision movements.

Commercial vs Home Humanoids

The flashy demos and lowest prices are from humanoids designed to operate in your home.

But behind the scenes, the big players are quietly creating industrial strength humanoids. The best known is Tesla’s Optimus that will work in their factories as soon as 2025.

One to keep an eye on is Figure, which raised $675 earlier this year and was created by the founder of Archer Aviation.

That’s more impressive than showing a video of a robot doing push ups!