Professor Robert Riener, from the research university ETH Zurich, told us that humanoids can be hard to control.
The U.S. Sun asked Professor Riener what the main challenges were when making a humanoid that’s as capable or superior to a human.
“To merge the structural components into one small and mobile system is not yet solved.
“This is an optimization problem,” he told us.
“We have to reduce size and energy consumption, but not on the cost of movement performance, where AI can help us.
“It is also a challenge to control them,” the expert added.
He then gave several examples of what aspects of humanoid robots are currently hard to control.
“Sensors, actuators, and computers have to collaborate in a fast manner to produce successful, smooth, functional movements,” he said.
Despite these issues, Riener still doesn’t think this is the biggest challenge when it comes to creating a superior humanoid.
Instead, the expert explained that battery power is currently a big issue.
“Batteries get empty after 1-2 hours. We have to make the machines more energy efficient – or tether them.”
He suggested that the humanoids would have to be tethered to power cables which would limit the ways in which they could mimic human behavior.
“Then it is not a challenge but the robots would not be useful for outdoor us,” he explained.
The expert does still believe that we will see humanoid robots that are superior to us become reality one day.
” I do think so. It is only a matter of time. However, it will take longer than most people think.
“We have already better technical components that outperform human structures,” he told us.