While it’s encouraging to watch Figure clap back at doubters by showing that its robots are more flexible than some might have thought, the Humanoid Robot Games #Only In China 🇨🇳 demonstrated that there is much work yet to do before robots start taking labor away from actual humans en masse. The Games, which featured “280 teams from universities and private companies in 16 countries” per the Times, pitted machine humanoids against one another in boxing, running, and other challenges. The results? Robots that are slower than humans, less consistent, and significantly less capable at landing a haymaker. But the news is not all dour. Sure, Tesla’s Optimus bot might be suffering from a lack of hands, but in general, the technology on display in China at the Games was miles ahead of where it was a few years ago. Why? Cheaper manufacturing of the machines and advances in AI that allow for more generalized tasking. Put another way, we’re actually seeing the acceleration in cost and performance from humanoid robots that many have expected; it’s just that we’re far earlier in the game than some wags would like to make it seem. We’re going to get there, and Figure, 1X, Apptronik, Cobot, and others could make a lot of money. Just not yet. #Robotics Revolution 🦾🤖🦿 #🇨🇳 ChinA.I. 🤖🧠🦾🤖