so this was supposed to be a video about the best robots at CES and while I did see a lot of awesome robots this year I don't feel ready to Crown any of them the best just yet I will run down what I saw and why this video turned out a little differently than ID planned there were a ton of robots at CES this year some looked like science fiction some looked like toys and some were made to look Almost Human I can say that by far the most fun I had was with the uni
tree G1 it was the only humanoid robot at CES that I had an opportunity to control the controller itself felt very natural and familiar like the video game controllers I grew up with and the experience of controlling it felt like test driving a really cool car that I'll probably never be able to afford other robots we saw like apptronics Apollo and digit from agility robotics opted to Showcase their autonomy through Demos in a controlled environment autonomy is a major milestone for robotics developers and something that makes their products more appealing to businesses that will want
robots to work with minimal supervision and inputs so it's natural they'd want to showcase that at an event like CES however because of the chaotic nature of the CES Show floor environment with bustling crowds and Loud Noises the focus on autonomy actually ends up separating these robots from the public like a work of art in a museum or an animal in a zoo rather than a tangible tool or a piece of tech some people might be less interested in robots that are remote controlled but in my opinion it makes them more accessible it's kind of
like with self-driving cars there are some folks myself included who still have some reservations about autonomous driving but that hasn't stopped some companies from taking out the steering wheel in their car designs altogether I don't know about you but I still want the steering wheel I still want a human to be able to step in and take control when needed getting behind the wheel of the unit tree G1 so to speak made a humanoid robot feel like an extension of human ability for me for the first time instead of watching from afar as an autonomous
robot performs tasks traditionally performed by humans I got to control a robot myself and in doing so learn more about how it works than I ever have from all the polished demo videos I've seen over the years there's all whole other category of robots I saw at CES this year that I would call social robots these are robots that are turning away from the metallic sci-fi industrial aesthetic and trying to relate to humans on a more emotional level through appearance and conversation robotics is on a mission to make their robots as humanlike as possible including
a skin-like covering Motors in the face to create expressions and a vision system that can lock onto and track nearby people and objects what really struck me about my visit to real btics was their idea of putting RFID tags inside the silicone faces so that when you take off a robot's face and put on another one the hardware and software will recogn that specific face and adjust the movements and AI personality to match it made me realize that these humanoid robots are really a lot like phones and computers in that they can run different operating
systems applications and be customized to suit different tastes other companies have tried to avoid passing through the uncanny valley at all but still make their robots approachable by focusing on a toy likee cuteness a sassy attitude or a cartoonish exterior overall my impression is that the robotics industry especially humanoid robotics is still matur uring and whether they're made for the theme park the warehouse the home or something else I really feel like that top spot in the robotics category is still up for grabs which is why I'm not crowning a best robot at CES this
year what do you think of all the robots we saw this year let us know down in the comments and subscribe to CET for the latest and greatest Tech news thanks so much for watching I'm your host Jesse oral see you next time with the fam
