I thought the robots would be taller
AI AI ROBOT🫡
The sidewalks of Hollywood are mad with delivery robots. Sized and shaped like mini shopping carts, they roll by coming just above your knee cap. Cute with androgynous names like Simone and Haiden stenciled on the side, they have lights that look like eyes and a display sticking up on top reminiscent of the light on top of an old yellow cab. They navigate carefully through a crowd and zip by when they have the sidewalk to themselves, giving off a deferential yet efficient vibe1
I knew the robots were coming, I just thought we'd get the taller ones.
How much do you tip a Robot!?
I've seen these little guys toodling by the past year or so but filed them away as a novelty - LA (and tech) is fraught with that kind of thing. Now they are for real. Uber bought 2,000 and the company with the robot factory now has AI superpower Nvidia funding them. A fresh robot fleet gets dropped off in vans each morning and they hit the streets delivering take-out.
A robot will bring you the finest LA cuisine - hankering for a Pinks hot dog? Or a Calif Chicken Salad? I got my favorite Thai noodles last week (Pad See Ew) and as I walked out of the restaurant, a robot pulled up, stopping a few feet from me, waiting. Restaurant doodie popped out and the little Robot - his name was Austin - opened up his top and in went a bag of Pad See Ew for someone else. Off went Austin, lights blazing. This was the first time I'd seen the drug deal up close.
When Austin is delivering your order, Uber tells you and you can watch Austin's progress. Uber also assures you need not tip Austin. Not only do you not need to tip but:
Who’s eating 2 pound burritos!?
Nobody walks in LA
It’s is as true now as it was then, but that's not why the Robots are cruising down LA sidewalks. Uber is rolling them out in other metros like Miami.
If you live in an area not as thick with people as LA or Miami, welcome the delivery drones. Chick-fil-A just started drone-drop-shipping spicy fried chicken sandos in Texas.
I had Space pegged for the final frontier, but I see where they’re going - if we’re going to Mars, we’ll need spicy fried chicken sandos there. Chick-fil-A / SpaceX collaboration coming soon. Amazon and Wal-mart are already doing drone delivery and it's not just a US thing - the robots are in Europe and Asia too.
Where my humanoid robots at?
When I covered myself in silver painted cardboard, shopping bags and pants to go trick-or-treating I wasn't delivering burritos or chicken sandwiches - I was a serious robot advancing society and stuff. When do we get the tall boys?
Sam Altman (AI kingmaker) was on a podcast - I think it was with Trevor Noah? Anyway, he was saying how AI is so much easier to build then real robots because it's software as opposed to making machines that can walk upright and have opposable thumbs. Apparently, our bodies are more complicated than our brains.
Perhaps it's like airplanes. The Human versions of flying machines are boorish and chunky compared to the effortless flight an eagle.
Aye Aye Captain 🫡
Lest you didn't get my clever subtitle, AI is of course a force multiplier behind robots. The hype doth spilleth over. WSJ wrote this piece last Sunday of all the clever ways AI will help the robots get places faster and more efficiently with less muss. The most interesting is a robot with wheels & stubby legs that looks kinda like a toy wheelchair. It can climb stairs and jump of a moving truck - so it doesn’t have to find a parking space in the big city!
Figure AI is a new player building humanoid robots. They proclaim to be:
THE FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND AI ROBOTICS COMPANY BRINGING A GENERAL PURPOSE HUMANOID TO LIFE
Their robot looks terrifying; a Frankenstein version of C3PO. My silver spray painted everything Halloween costume was sturdier. A few weeks ago Figure posted this video of their robot making coffee with a Keurig. A human brought the coffee machine and put in the mug. All the robot had to do was drop in the pod in and press a button. It looks very painful for all involved and the terrifying music doesn’t make me want robot coffee at all.
The Blade Runner replicants are a long way out.
Hey Robot, can I get a ride?
I would love a robot driver and like Austin the delivery robot self-driving cars are really capable now. But did you read what happened to Cruise in San Francisco? Cruise was arguably the #1 self-driving car company but then they ran over a pedestrian. That was the headline but what really happened was a human driven car hit a pedestrian, throwing it under the wheels of a moving Cruise self-driving car. There was no way for the Cruise car to stop in time, but it shouldn’t have dragged this poor woman another 20 feet to get off the road and it shouldn’t have finally come to a stop ON TOP of her. Also, their executives shouldn’t have tried to cover up the dragging part of the video with the DMV. The DMV proceeded to kick Cruise out of California, GM pulled funding, lawsuits are coming - the future of the whole industry is now unclear.
Yep:
If every car was self-driving, it’d be super safe. Just like we have to invent robots to find parking spaces and climb up stairs, robots would be better off without us humans buggering stuff up2
iRobot rocks Roomba
Roomba the robot vacuum has been terrorizing cats for over 20 years now - and getting better all the time. I’d get a Roomba robot in a minute. Our house is perfect for it - no stairs, no cats. We’ll see what Lola will do. Roomba was quite the novelty 20 years ago, now you can grab one at Target. Humanity will soon get used to Austin and his friends bringing us 2-pound burritos. Like Austin, the Roomba has one job, and it does it well.
Multipurpose is hard, so for now we only get the robots we can look down on and I’m ok with that.
Of course, people in LA took on the robots. Check the carnage @FilmTheRobotsLA ‘Putting delivery robots in their place since 2022’
Of course, people in SF took on the robot cars. Protesters stop Waymo and Cruise self-driving cars with only a traffic cone : NPR