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MIT Technology Review: The Human Work Behind Humanoid Robots Is Being Hidden
Industry·MIT Technology Review·1 min read

MIT Technology Review: The Human Work Behind Humanoid Robots Is Being Hidden

MIT Technology Review published an investigation into the invisible human labor powering today's humanoid robots. The piece reveals how workers in Shanghai spend weeks wearing VR headsets and exoskeletons to repeatedly open microwaves hundreds of times a day — generating training data for the robots beside them. Figure AI partnered with Brookfield, which manages 100,000 residential units, to capture 'massive amounts' of household movement data. Meanwhile, 1X's $20,000 Neo humanoid shipping to homes this year relies on remote teleoperators in Palo Alto who pilot the robot through its cameras when it gets stuck — effectively a form of wage arbitrage that re-creates gig work dynamics for physical tasks. The article argues that keeping these human workforces invisible causes the public to consistently overestimate what robots can actually do, drawing a parallel to Tesla's 'Autopilot' branding that a Miami jury found contributed to a fatal crash resulting in a $240 million verdict.

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The Human Work Behind Humanoid Robots Is Being HiddenIndustry

The Human Work Behind Humanoid Robots Is Being Hidden

MIT Technology Review reports that robotics companies are obscuring the extent of human labor involved in training and operating humanoid robots. Workers in exoskeletons and VR headsets spend days repeating mundane tasks — opening microwaves, moving boxes — to generate training data for robot AI. Teleoperation is widespread too: 1X's $20,000 Neo home robot ships this year, but when it gets stuck, a remote operator in Palo Alto takes over through its cameras. Figure AI partnered with Brookfield to capture movement data across 100,000 residential units. The piece argues that if physical AI is coming for our workplaces and homes, the gap between perceived autonomy and actual human involvement needs honest scrutiny — otherwise we risk mistaking concealed labor for machine intelligence.

·MIT Technology Review
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Industry

iRobot Cofounder Rodney Brooks Says Today's Humanoid Robots Are 'Pure Fantasy Thinking'

Rodney Brooks, the MIT roboticist who cofounded iRobot and created the Roomba, published a detailed critique of the current humanoid robot boom. Brooks argues that today's humanoid robots will never achieve true dexterity because the industry lacks sufficient touch and haptic training data — unlike vision and language, where massive datasets exist. He specifically criticizes the approach used by Tesla and Figure AI of training robots by filming humans performing tasks, calling it insufficient for replicating the 17,000 mechanoreceptors in the human hand. Brooks predicts that successful robots in 15 years will look nothing like humans — sporting wheels, multiple arms, and possibly five-fingered hands — and that most of today's billion-dollar humanoid investments will be 'conveniently forgotten.' He suggests that redirecting just 20% of current VC spending to university researchers would yield better results.

·Fortune
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Industry

BMW to Deploy Humanoid Robots on Production Lines at German Plant for the First Time

BMW Group announced it will deploy humanoid robots on a production line at a German factory for the first time, expanding beyond its successful U.S. pilot at the Spartanburg plant in South Carolina where Figure AI robots have been working since 2024. The move marks the first time humanoid robots will operate on European automotive production lines. BMW previously integrated Figure 02 humanoids into its Spartanburg facility, where they contributed to the production of over 30,000 cars. The German expansion signals growing confidence in humanoid robots for real-world manufacturing at scale.

·BMW Group / Financial Times