Tesla's Optimus Bot: Are Humaniform Robots The Right Path Forward?

Is a human-shaped robot like Optimus, the Tesla Bot, the right path to travel if we want to achieve useful robots and automated help in all aspects of our working and personal lives? That's basically the promise of Optimus, which Tesla CEO Elon Musk says will usher in "a fundamental transformation for civilization as we know it." One thing is undeniable: there's an abiding appeal to human shaped and human sized robots, as Irena Cronin, CEO of Infinite Retina, recently told me. Part of the value of copying the human form: the world is built for humans. Cars, homes, machines, factories, warehouses ... all of our built environment is designed by and for human beings as inhabitants, operators, drivers, or workers. And Tesla's not the only one attempting to create humaniform robots.