Podbit · Hard Fork
Humanoid robots like Unitree's aren't cleaning your house yet — they're being bought by researchers hungry for real-world training data. Meanwhile, the more reliable quadruped 'dog robots' are already being deployed for industrial inspection and security patrols.
Where this was said
At 30:50 · chapter starts 27:43
Casey Newton introduces George Eikenberg, director of engineering at ToberLife AI, along with Toby the Unitree H1 humanoid robot. The hosts interact with Toby — noting the 'weak grip strength' that offers comfort — before asking for a dance demonstration. DJ Dan fires up the music, and Toby promptly collapses [1] — George Eikenberg "In the night's most unscripted moment, Toby the humanoid robot fell over mid-dance routine at Hard Fork Live. The demo, meant to showcase w…" 29:04 . The moment is both hilarious and illuminating: Eikenberg explains it was likely a controller misclick, notes the robots are durable, and Toby eventually recovers. The incident becomes an inadvertent live proof of where humanoid robotics currently stands. A second, more successful dance follows before the segment wraps.
In the night's most unscripted moment, Toby the humanoid robot fell over mid-dance routine at Hard Fork Live. The demo, meant to showcase what humanoid robots can do, instead illustrated exactly where the technology stands: impressive in controlled conditions, unreliable in the real world.
George Eikenberg of ToberLife AI said humanoid robots equipped with dexterous hands for manipulation data collection cost between $50,000 and $70,000.
George Eikenberg confirmed that Unitree robots do send logging data to China, similar to other Chinese tech products, though he said camera or joint telemetry data transmission has not been established.
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