Robots are really advancing because they’re learning to think for themselves, execs say
Robots are really advancing because they’re learning to think for themselves, execs say
Publish Date: 2026-01-06 16:08:00
Source Domain: fortune.com
- The true revolution in robotics is shifting toward robots capable of “thinking” for themselves, moving beyond physical agility like parkour and backflips.
- Traditional robotics relied on humans pre-programming machines, but the current innovation is about robots learning directly from data and experiences.
- Industry leaders note a paradox in AI known as Moravec’s paradox, wherein tasks that appear simple (like backflips) are often easier to program than more complex tasks (like climbing stairs).
- The real challenge in robotics involves interaction with the real world, requiring robots to use vision and sensory motor common sense to learn from the environment, akin to human general intelligence.
- Companies like Skild aim to create generally intelligent software to act as a “brain” for any robot hardware, potentially revolutionizing physical labor but requiring significant data.
- Robots are seen to address critical societal needs such as safety, labor shortages, and social evolution, although their deployment in private homes is still in the future.
- Industrial settings and semi-structured environments like hospitals and hotels are expected to be the first to widely adopt robotic technology, before widespread integration into homes.
