--- title: Robot demos have a dirty little secret... | daily.dev description: Despite flashy demos from Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics 2, Tesla, and startups like 1X and Figure, MIT robotics researchers believe general-purpose... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/robot-demos-have-a-dirty-little-secret--zdocj3qbk twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Robot demos have a dirty little secret... | daily.dev og:description: Despite flashy demos from Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics 2, Tesla, and startups like 1X and Figure, MIT robotics researchers believe general-purpose... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/robot-demos-have-a-dirty-little-secret--zdocj3qbk og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/zDocj3qBK.png og:image:alt: Robot demos have a dirty little secret... og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Robot demos have a dirty little secret... **[Fireship](https://daily.dev/sources/fireship)** · 7 min read · 15 upvotes · 2 comments ## Summary Despite flashy demos from Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics 2, Tesla, and startups like 1X and Figure, MIT robotics researchers believe general-purpose humanoid robots capable of replacing human labor are still 10+ years away — and that's being optimistic. The core challenges are multi-finger dexterity (success rates range from 0–90%, far below the 95%+ needed for practical use), the lack of real-world training data comparable to what LLMs had, and the fundamental difficulty of emitting continuous motor commands at high frequency with near-zero error tolerance. The debate between imitation learning and reinforcement learning remains unresolved. Currently available consumer humanoids include the Unitree G1 at $13,500. The piece argues that robot demos are primarily hype vehicles designed to pump valuations rather than reflect the true state of the field. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why can't humanoid robots reliably do household chores yet even though AI models are so advanced? Robot dexterity, not reasoning, is the bottleneck. Multi-finger manipulation success rates in demos range from 0% to 90%, but real household use would require above 95% reliability. Unlike language models that output discrete tokens with no real-time constraint, robots must stream continuous motor commands like joint angles and torque hundreds of times per second across dozens of motors, so small errors cause failures. _Developers tracking robotics AI progress can follow analysis like this on daily.dev as the dexterity problem evolves._ ### What is the difference between imitation learning and reinforcement learning for training robots? Imitation learning has a human teleoperate a robot so a model can clone its behavior, which is simple but hard to scale. Reinforcement learning lets a robot try tasks through trial and error, receiving a reward signal for success, as used to teach some robots martial arts moves. Neither approach is yet mature enough to produce safe, general-purpose robots. _Anyone weighing robot training approaches can keep up with these tradeoffs through daily.dev._ ### What humanoid robots can consumers actually buy today? Options are limited compared to the hype: Boston Dynamics Atlas units are waitlisted since Hyundai and Google bought the available stock, Unitree's G1 from China starts around $13,500, and AgiBot is shipping at scale in China. Companies like 1X, Figure, and Tesla have shown demo videos but do not yet sell their robots to the public. _Developers curious about real versus hyped robot availability can track updates on daily.dev._ ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@jamalondon97** · 3 upvotes > Personally, I'm perfectly fine with robotics taking longer to develop. Seeing as how AI is already starting to show signs of malicious intent/behaviour, paired with the fact that big tech companies ARENT slowing down and/or not implementing better guard rails. **@ninopataraia** · 0 upvotes > Seeing Treehalves - enormous, scary robot, which is supposed to help people, but comes with instructions, how to kill it and is intentionally bigger than a normal door so that the robot cannot chase you, I am HAPPY to hear that they won't be able to replace human labor for minimum 10 years from now! ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [The world is just not quite ready for humanoids yet](https://daily.dev/posts/the-world-is-just-not-quite-ready-for-humanoids-yet-y8lbtthgx) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 1 comments - [Humanoid home robots are on the market – but do we really want them?](https://daily.dev/posts/humanoid-home-robots-are-on-the-market-but-do-we-really-want-them--xlvetvqqp) · Robohub · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [Humanoid robots: Novelty acts today, but investment surging](https://daily.dev/posts/humanoid-robots-novelty-acts-today-but-investment-surging-fcetu2poq) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#robotics](https://daily.dev/tags/robotics), [#reinforcement-learning](https://daily.dev/tags/reinforcement-learning) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/robot-demos-have-a-dirty-little-secret--zdocj3qbk) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Robot demos have a dirty little secret...","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/robot-demos-have-a-dirty-little-secret--zdocj3qbk","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/robot-demos-have-a-dirty-little-secret--zdocj3qbk"},"datePublished":"2026-08-11T16:13:43.496Z","dateModified":"2026-09-13T19:56:33.224Z","description":"Despite flashy demos from Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics 2, Tesla, and startups like 1X and Figure, MIT robotics researchers believe general-purpose...","image":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/aB5LGrHISqY/sddefault.jpg","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/aB5LGrHISqY/sddefault.jpg","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Fireship","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Fireship","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--75ndqrkr--/f_auto,t_logo/v1702882094/logos/fireship.jpg","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/fireship"},"commentCount":2,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/robot-demos-have-a-dirty-little-secret--zdocj3qbk","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":15},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}],"keywords":"robotics,reinforcement-learning","timeRequired":"PT7M","video":{"@type":"VideoObject","name":"Robot demos have a dirty little secret...","description":"Despite flashy demos from Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics 2, Tesla, and startups like 1X and Figure, MIT robotics researchers believe general-purpose...","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/aB5LGrHISqY/sddefault.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-08-11T16:13:43.496Z","duration":"PT7M","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/zDocj3qBK","embedUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/aB5LGrHISqY"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Fireship","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/fireship"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Robot demos have a dirty little secret..."}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/robot-demos-have-a-dirty-little-secret--zdocj3qbk","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"Personally, I’m perfectly fine with robotics taking longer to develop. Seeing as how AI is already starting to show signs of malicious intent/behaviour, paired with the fact that big tech companies ARENT slowing down and/or not implementing better guard rails.","datePublished":"2026-08-11T21:26:55.570Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/zDocj3qBK#c-95BmnA9Ey","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamal","url":"https://daily.dev/jamalondon97","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/144385135?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":3}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Seeing Treehalves - enormous, scary robot, which is supposed to help people, but comes with instructions, how to kill it and is intentionally bigger than a normal door so that the robot cannot chase you, I am HAPPY to hear that they won’t be able to replace human labor for minimum 10 years from now!","datePublished":"2026-08-15T16:06:06.897Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/zDocj3qBK#c-QQkqX6cGU","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Nino Pataraia","url":"https://daily.dev/ninopataraia","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--QqBNCzl_--/f_auto/v1788862148/avatars/avatar_CGwgl7WgTTg8u6WKq3Xj6?_a=BAMAMicg0"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/robot-demos-have-a-dirty-little-secret--zdocj3qbk#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why can't humanoid robots reliably do household chores yet even though AI models are so advanced?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Robot dexterity, not reasoning, is the bottleneck. Multi-finger manipulation success rates in demos range from 0% to 90%, but real household use would require above 95% reliability. Unlike language models that output discrete tokens with no real-time constraint, robots must stream continuous motor commands like joint angles and torque hundreds of times per second across dozens of motors, so small errors cause failures. Developers tracking robotics AI progress can follow analysis like this on daily.dev as the dexterity problem evolves."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What is the difference between imitation learning and reinforcement learning for training robots?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Imitation learning has a human teleoperate a robot so a model can clone its behavior, which is simple but hard to scale. Reinforcement learning lets a robot try tasks through trial and error, receiving a reward signal for success, as used to teach some robots martial arts moves. Neither approach is yet mature enough to produce safe, general-purpose robots. Anyone weighing robot training approaches can keep up with these tradeoffs through daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What humanoid robots can consumers actually buy today?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Options are limited compared to the hype: Boston Dynamics Atlas units are waitlisted since Hyundai and Google bought the available stock, Unitree's G1 from China starts around $13,500, and AgiBot is shipping at scale in China. Companies like 1X, Figure, and Tesla have shown demo videos but do not yet sell their robots to the public. Developers curious about real versus hyped robot availability can track updates on daily.dev."}}]} ```