Two years ago, Tesla’s Optimus prototype was an underwhelming mess of exposed wires that could only operate in a carefully controlled stage presentation. Last night, Tesla’s “We, Robot” event featured much more advanced Optimus prototypes that could walk around without tethers and interact directly with partygoers.
It was an impressive demonstration of the advancement of a technology Tesla’s Elon Musk said he thinks “will be the biggest product ever of any kind” (way to set reasonable expectations, there). But the live demos have also set off a firestorm of discussion over just how autonomous these Optimus robots currently are.
A robot in every garage
Before the human/robot party could get started, Musk introduced the humanoid Optimus robots as a logical extension of some of the technology that Tesla uses in its cars, from batteries and motors to software. “It’s just a robot with arms and legs instead of a robot with wheels,” Musk said breezily, easily underselling the huge differences between human-like movements and a car’s much more limited input options.
After confirming that the company “started off with someone in a robot suit”—a reference to a somewhat laughable 2021 Tesla presentation—Musk said that “rapid progress” has been made in the Optimus program in recent years. Extrapolating that progress to the “long term” future, Musk said, would lead to a point where you could purchase “your own personal R2-D2, C-3PO” for $20,000 to $30,000 (though he did allow that it could “take us a minute to get to the long term”).
And what will you get for that $30,000 when the “long term” finally comes to pass? Musk grandiosely promised that Optimus will be able to do “anything you want,” including babysitting kids, walking dogs, getting groceries, serving drinks, or “just be[ing] your friend.” Given those promised capabilities, it’s perhaps no wonder that Musk confidently predicted that “every one of the 8 billion people of Earth” will want at least one Optimus, leading to an “age of abundance” where the labor costs for most services “declines dramatically.”
On Wednesday, researchers at Google DeepMind revealed the first AI-powered robotic table tennis player capable of competing at an amateur human level. The system combines an industrial robot arm called the ABB IRB 1100 and custom AI software from DeepMind. While an expert human player can still defeat the bot, the system demonstrates the potential for machines to master complex physical tasks that require split-second decision-making and adaptability.
“This is the first robot agent capable of playing a sport with humans at human level,” the researchers wrote in a preprint paper listed on arXiv. “It represents a milestone in robot learning and control.”
The unnamed robot agent (we suggest “AlphaPong”), developed by a team that includes David B. D’Ambrosio, Saminda Abeyruwan, and Laura Graesser, showed notable performance in a series of matches against human players of varying skill levels. In a study involving 29 participants, the AI-powered robot won 45 percent of its matches, demonstrating solid amateur-level play. Most notably, it achieved a 100 percent win rate against beginners and a 55 percent win rate against intermediate players, though it struggled against advanced opponents.
A Google DeepMind video of the AI agent rallying with a human table tennis player.
The physical setup consists of the aforementioned IRB 1100, a 6-degree-of-freedom robotic arm, mounted on two linear tracks, allowing it to move freely in a 2D plane. High-speed cameras track the ball’s position, while a motion-capture system monitors the human opponent’s paddle movements.
AI at the core
To create the brains that power the robotic arm, DeepMind researchers developed a two-level approach that allows the robot to execute specific table tennis techniques while adapting its strategy in real time to each opponent’s playing style. In other words, it’s adaptable enough to play any amateur human at table tennis without requiring specific per-player training.
The system’s architecture combines low-level skill controllers (neural network policies trained to execute specific table tennis techniques like forehand shots, backhand returns, or serve responses) with a high-level strategic decision-maker (a more complex AI system that analyzes the game state, adapts to the opponent’s style, and selects which low-level skill policy to activate for each incoming ball).
The researchers state that one of the key innovations of this project was the method used to train the AI models. The researchers chose a hybrid approach that used reinforcement learning in a simulated physics environment, while grounding the training data in real-world examples. This technique allowed the robot to learn from around 17,500 real-world ball trajectories—a fairly small dataset for a complex task.
A Google DeepMind video showing an illustration of how the AI agent analyzes human players.
The researchers used an iterative process to refine the robot’s skills. They started with a small dataset of human-vs-human gameplay, then let the AI loose against real opponents. Each match generated new data on ball trajectories and human strategies, which the team fed back into the simulation for further training. This process, repeated over seven cycles, allowed the robot to continuously adapt to increasingly skilled opponents and diverse play styles. By the final round, the AI had learned from over 14,000 rally balls and 3,000 serves, creating a body of table tennis knowledge that helped it bridge the gap between simulation and reality.
Interestingly, Nvidia has also been experimenting with similar simulated physics systems, such as Eureka, that allow an AI model to rapidly learn to control a robotic arm in simulated space instead of the real world (since the physics can be accelerated inside the simulation, and thousands of simultaneous trials can take place). This method is likely to dramatically reduce the time and resources needed to train robots for complex interactions in the future.
Humans enjoyed playing against it
Beyond its technical achievements, the study also explored the human experience of playing against an AI opponent. Surprisingly, even players who lost to the robot reported enjoying the experience. “Across all skill groups and win rates, players agreed that playing with the robot was ‘fun’ and ‘engaging,'” the researchers noted. This positive reception suggests potential applications for AI in sports training and entertainment.
However, the system is not without limitations. It struggles with extremely fast or high balls, has difficulty reading intense spin, and shows weaker performance in backhand plays. Google DeepMind shared an example video of the AI agent losing a point to an advanced player due to what appears to be difficulty reacting to a speedy hit, as you can see below.
A Google DeepMind video of the AI agent playing against an advanced human player.
The implications of this robotic ping-pong prodigy extend beyond the world of table tennis, according to the researchers. The techniques developed for this project could be applied to a wide range of robotic tasks that require quick reactions and adaptation to unpredictable human behavior. From manufacturing to health care (or just spanking someone with a paddle repeatedly), the potential applications seem large indeed.
The research team at Google DeepMind emphasizes that with further refinement, they believe the system could potentially compete with advanced table tennis players in the future. DeepMind is no stranger to creating AI models that can defeat human game players, including AlphaZero and AlphaGo. With this latest robot agent, it’s looking like the research company is moving beyond board games and into physical sports. Chess and Jeopardy have already fallen to AI-powered victors—perhaps table tennis is next.
Enlarge/ This is the Figure 02, a new humanoid robot that recently tried its hand(s) at assembling BMW chassis in South Carolina.
BMW
Robots have been working in car factories for decades now, starting with machines performing some welds on a General Motors production line back in 1961. Now, robots work alongside people on production lines, excelling at tasks like manipulating parts too heavy for humans to easily lift or welding or bonding with more precision than we can manage.
Those robots mostly look like big multi-axis arms, but a new breed of two-armed, two-legged robots is being tested in car factories. BMW is the latest automaker to try them at its factory in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Unlike Tesla, which hopes to develop its own bipedal ‘bot to work on its production line sometime next year, BMW has brought in a robot from Figure AI. The Figure 02 robot has hands with sixteen degrees of freedom and human-equivalent strength.
“We are excited to unveil Figure 02, our second-generation humanoid robot, which recently completed successful testing at the BMW Group Plant Spartanburg. Figure 02 has significant technical advancements, which enable the robot to perform a wide range of complex tasks fully autonomously,” said Brett Adcock, founder and CEO of Figure AI.
BMW wanted to test how to integrate a humanoid robot into its production process—how to have the robot communicate with the production line software and human workers and determine what requirements would be necessary to add robots to the mix.
The Figure robot was given the job of inserting sheet metal parts into fixtures as part of the process of making a chassis. BMW says this required particular dexterity and that it’s an ergonomically awkward and tiring task for humans.
Now that the trial is over, Figure’s robot is no longer working at Spartanburg, and BMW says it has “no definite timetable established” to add humanoid robots to its production lines. “The developments in the field of robotics are very promising. With an early-test operation, we are now determining possible applications for humanoid robots in production. We want to accompany this technology from development to industrialization,” said Milan Nedeljković, BMW’s board member responsible for production.
Enlarge/ A movable robotic face covered with living human skin cells.
In a new study, researchers from the University of Tokyo, Harvard University, and the International Research Center for Neurointelligence have unveiled a technique for creating lifelike robotic skin using living human cells. As a proof of concept, the team engineered a small robotic face capable of smiling, covered entirely with a layer of pink living tissue.
The researchers note that using living skin tissue as a robot covering has benefits, as it’s flexible enough to convey emotions and can potentially repair itself. “As the role of robots continues to evolve, the materials used to cover social robots need to exhibit lifelike functions, such as self-healing,” wrote the researchers in the study.
The study describes a novel method for attaching cultured skin to robotic surfaces using “perforation-type anchors” inspired by natural skin ligaments. These tiny v-shaped cavities in the robot’s structure allow living tissue to infiltrate and create a secure bond, mimicking how human skin attaches to underlying tissues.
To demonstrate the skin’s capabilities, the team engineered a palm-sized robotic face able to form a convincing smile. Actuators connected to the base allowed the face to move, with the living skin flexing. The researchers also covered a static 3D-printed head shape with the engineered skin.
Enlarge/ “Demonstration of the perforation-type anchors to cover the facial device with skin equivalent.”
Takeuchi et al. created their robotic face by first 3D-printing a resin base embedded with the perforation-type anchors. They then applied a mixture of human skin cells in a collagen scaffold, allowing the living tissue to grow into the anchors.
In 1921, Czech playwright Karel Čapek and his brother Josef invented the word “robot” in a sci-fi play called R.U.R. (short for Rossum’s Universal Robots). As Even Ackerman in IEEE Spectrum points out, Čapek wasn’t happy about how the term’s meaning evolved to denote mechanical entities, straying from his original concept of artificial human-like beings based on chemistry.
In a newly translated column called “The Author of the Robots Defends Himself,” published in Lidové Noviny on June 9, 1935, Čapek expresses his frustration about how his original vision for robots was being subverted. His arguments still apply to both modern robotics and AI. In this column, he referred to himself in the third-person:
For his robots were not mechanisms. They were not made of sheet metal and cogwheels. They were not a celebration of mechanical engineering. If the author was thinking of any of the marvels of the human spirit during their creation, it was not of technology, but of science. With outright horror, he refuses any responsibility for the thought that machines could take the place of people, or that anything like life, love, or rebellion could ever awaken in their cogwheels. He would regard this somber vision as an unforgivable overvaluation of mechanics or as a severe insult to life.
This recently resurfaced article comes courtesy of a new English translation of Čapek’s play called R.U.R. and the Vision of Artificial Life accompanied by 20 essays on robotics, philosophy, politics, and AI. The editor, Jitka Čejková, a professor at the Chemical Robotics Laboratory in Prague, aligns her research with Čapek’s original vision. She explores “chemical robots”—microparticles resembling living cells—which she calls “liquid robots.”
Enlarge/ “An assistant of inventor Captain Richards works on the robot the Captain has invented, which speaks, answers questions, shakes hands, tells the time and sits down when it’s told to.” – September 1928
In Čapek’s 1935 column, he clarifies that his robots were not intended to be mechanical marvels, but organic products of modern chemistry, akin to living matter. Čapek emphasizes that he did not want to glorify mechanical systems but to explore the potential of science, particularly chemistry. He refutes the idea that machines could replace humans or develop emotions and consciousness.
The author of the robots would regard it as an act of scientific bad taste if he had brought something to life with brass cogwheels or created life in the test tube; the way he imagined it, he created only a new foundation for life, which began to behave like living matter, and which could therefore have become a vehicle of life—but a life which remains an unimaginable and incomprehensible mystery. This life will reach its fulfillment only when (with the aid of considerable inaccuracy and mysticism) the robots acquire souls. From which it is evident that the author did not invent his robots with the technological hubris of a mechanical engineer, but with the metaphysical humility of a spiritualist.
The reason for the transition from chemical to mechanical in the public perception of robots isn’t entirely clear (though Čapek does mention a Russian film which went the mechanical route and was likely influential). The early 20th century was a period of rapid industrialization and technological advancement that saw the emergence of complex machinery and electronic automation, which probably influenced the public and scientific community’s perception of autonomous beings, leading them to associate the idea of robots with mechanical and electronic devices rather than chemical creations.
The 1935 piece is full of interesting quotes (you can read the whole thing in IEEE Spectrum or here), and we’ve grabbed a few highlights below that you can conveniently share with your robot-loving friends to blow their minds:
“He pronounces that his robots were created quite differently—that is, by a chemical path”
“He has learned, without any great pleasure, that genuine steel robots have started to appear”
“Well then, the author cannot be blamed for what might be called the worldwide humbug over the robots.”
“The world needed mechanical robots, for it believes in machines more than it believes in life; it is fascinated more by the marvels of technology than by the miracle of life.”
So it seems, over 100 years later, that we’ve gotten it wrong all along. Čapek’s vision, rooted in chemical synthesis and the philosophical mysteries of life, offers a different narrative from the predominant mechanical and electronic interpretation of robots we know today. But judging from what Čapek wrote, it sounds like he would be firmly against AI takeover scenarios. In fact, Čapek, who died in 1938, probably would think they would be impossible.
Connected Living and Temi announce a global partnership in response to the COVID-19 new world, in which the most at-risk population – our seniors – need enhanced ways to interact with family, community, and medical professionals all from a distance. Connected Living is now the U.S. partner and distributor of Temi powered by Connected Living, an interactive robot that’s been introduced to senior living and healthcare facilities.
The partnership with Temi is the latest addition to Connected Living’s comprehensive COVID-19 emergency toolkit, which enables senior living communities to manage outreach across all of its constituents, including those who work and live inside and outside the property. The suite of technology services geared at creating connected communities for seniors, includes a roster of pre-configured iPads, tablets, Alexa-enabled skills, a unique TV channel with programming designed for seniors, and a unique smartphone app that helps them stay more connected with their families and one another.
“We want to protect and connect our senior population, their caregivers, staff and families. Temi allows us to safely check temperatures at the door, set up family and doctor social or health visits, and interact with unlimited engagement content,” said Sarah Hoit, CEO and Co-Founder of Connected Living, which serves hundreds of senior living communities nationwide. “We need to do everything we can to bring health and wellbeing to our clients and to help stop the spread of COVID-19 in senior communities, while creating significant opportunity for socialization and healthcare visits.”
As the need to connect and protect our seniors is heightened during this COVID-19 global crisis, Temi can be used, in conjunction with Connected Living’s full suite of technology, to schedule both family visits and telehealth calls for anyone in the building and record the temperature of people entering the building or of current residents. This reasonably-priced robot, now being offered by Connected Living as the official U.S. distributor to the senior and healthcare market, can also be used as a “companion device” in the room to connect anytime with family, see interactive videos and content and help senior living community managers with “temperature capture.” Temi can also be used to ask for the foodservice menu or as a communication device to share safe, social distancing activities that might be occurring in the building.
One of the most innovative senior living communities in the country, and client of Connected Living, is Connecticut-based, Maplewood Senior Living, who introduced Temi to the marketplace by purchasing 30 robots for their new high-end Inspīr Modern Living community center in Manhattan, along with one additional Temi for use in all their other properties, allowing for immediate interaction with anyone a resident wants to connect with virtually. Temi has been lifting spirits and connecting residents with family members and doctors. “We are committed to continuously innovating the way we do things, and bringing the best of what the market has to offer to our residents,” says Eleonora Tornatore-Mikesh, Chief Experience & Memory Care Officer of Maplewood Senior Living. “While this has always been our commitment, being able to deliver social and emotional visits with family, and/or connect with a doctor in the resident’s room is critical at this time.”
Through vibrant digital screen “faces,” Temi interacts with humans via autonomous navigation, dynamic video, enhanced audio, and advanced artificial intelligence. Within senior living communities, the gender-neutral Temis function as companion devices with virtually endless possibilities for education, healthcare, and entertainment through a proprietary Connected Living Alexa skill.
“The entire concept for Temi came from a visit to my grandmother, when I realized she was struggling to handle her smartphone,” said Yossi Wolf, Temi Co-Founder and Chairman. “Partnering with Connected Living to bring the convenience of personal robots to thousands of other elders is truly the fulfillment of a dream, and knowing that we’re easing the burden on this population is incredibly rewarding. Connected Living is a big part of making this dream come true.”
That comfort level is essential because Temis are playing a vital role in delivering healthcare to seniors on lockdown. The robots have proven useful in connecting residents with family, but also with doctors for remote consultations on non- emergent care.
“Our mission is to do the most work where we can do the most good, so harnessing technology to connect and protect the people we love is our focus.” Sarah Hoit, CEO & Co-Founder of Connected Living
Connected Living was recently featured in a case study by LeadingAge called, “Improving System-Wide Communication with Connected Living Enterprise Platform During the COVID-19 Crisis.” To request a copy of this case study or if you have a community in need of assistance to learn more about Connected Living and Temi, please email [email protected]
About Connected Living Based in Quincy, Mass., Connected Living was founded in 2007 to provide technology solutions to senior living communities to help them to deliver compassionate care, and to help seniors and their families to communicate better. The technology encourages resident engagement and inspires our aging population to increase their communication and connection with others to live healthier lives. Hundreds of communities nationwide have worked with Connected Living to increase occupancy, reduce employee turnover, and enhance the quality of life for seniors and their families. For more information about Connected Living, visit https://www.connectedliving.com/ConnectedLiving.com.
About Temi The Temi Company was founded by CEO Yossi Wolf in 2016. Having established robotics company Roboteam Defense seven years earlier with partner Elad Levy, Yossi decided to change direction to the consumer market and create Temi, the personal robot. Today Temi is a global company with offices in Shenzhen China (production), New York (Marketing & Sales), Tel Aviv (R&D) and Singapore. Learn more at robotemi.com.
