Ever since reading Isaac Asimov’s iRobot, I’ve been fascinated by the idea of humanoid machines. Early portrayals often painted robots as threats—menacing figures in fiction and film. The movie iRobot, with its army of AI-controlled machines, only amplified that fear.
But let’s step back from the hype and the Hollywood fear factor for a moment. Where do things stand with humanoid robots today?
The truth is—we’ve been using robots for a while now. Think of self-driving vehicles, collaborative robots (cobots) that assist workers on the factory floor, and surgical robots helping in operating rooms. The next evolution pairs robotics with artificial intelligence. This allows machines not just to follow instructions, but to learn—through video, simulation, and observation—how to perform tasks they’ve never seen before.
Take NVIDIA, for example, known for the AI chips powering many data centers, they’re also training robots in simulated environments—factories, hospitals, warehouses—teaching them tasks before they ever hit the real world. Training a robot is, in many ways, like training an AI model: it learns from large datasets, videos, or even by watching a human demonstrate a task.
From an economic development perspective, this raises some important questions. What happens to the workforce when machines can replicate tasks traditionally done on the shop floor?
BMW has long been experimenting with robotic assembly lines. And here in Michigan, I toured a 400,000-square-foot office furniture factory where robots moved materials from one station to the next. As we walked the facility, we were warned to stay within marked human pathways—outside those lines, the robots simply wouldn’t expect you to be there. On my entire walk-through, I saw just four people.
It’s not just factories. An article in MIT Technology Review recently highlighted how robots are now capable of loading and unloading semi-trailers. Amazon has been using robots in its warehouses for years. With autonomous trucks on the horizon, it’s not hard to imagine a fully robotic distribution system.
So, where does this leave us?
I believe there will still be plenty for humans to do—especially given today’s labor shortages and demographic shifts. But the nature of work is changing. If I were starting out today, I’d either start a robotics company or invest in one. NVIDIA, Boston Dynamics, and other innovators are at the forefront of this transformation.
We’re entering a new era—robots in hospitals, nursing homes, kitchens, and living rooms. Today’s home model might cost $30,000. A learning version? Closer to $400,000. But those prices will drop, and adoption will rise.