this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2025
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194
Reality Is Ruining the Humanoid Robot Hype: The obstacles to scaling up humanoids that nobody is talking about (spectrum.ieee.org)
submitted 2 weeks ago by Pro@programming.dev to c/technology@lemmy.world
68 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/37266403

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[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah, no…“always”. Technology like humanoid robots, is never going to get cheap enough to replace low-paid manual labor.

That's definitely not a rule. Just because so far we managed to keep manual labor dirt cheap doesn't mean it always have to be like that. Tariffs, migration policy, social programs and so on, all affect the cost of labor. Move all the production back to developed countries while limiting immigration and the costs of labor might increase to the point where humanoid robots make sense.

I'm not saying that this will happen, only that we definitely can't say it won't.

[–] Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

The only thing that makes manual labor worth more, is demand. And adding more competition to the market does the opposite of that. If anything, robots will make human labor even cheaper. And that will only get worse, the cheaper the robots get.

Same goes for every other factor you listed. All of those things add cost to a business's bottom line. Where they will inevitably try to claw back some of those losses, are labor costs. "Sorry, but due to overhead constraints, this is the best I can offer you. Take it or leave it". And in an economy that's under pressure, people will take whatever they can get.

[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The only thing that makes manual labor worth more, is demand.

Ever heard about supply?

[–] Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Labor is the supply. Demand determines its value.

[–] Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 weeks ago

...they both contribute.