Tech show at CES 2024 aims to find a balance between human-like and machine-like robots.

Miroka and Miroki possess large, expressive eyes, elf-like ears, and emit adorable cooing sounds, making them reminiscent of a character straight out of your beloved cartoon.

But you, and designed to perform logistical support work in hospitals or hotels.

“Why live with ugly machines,” says Jerome Monceaux, head of Paris-based start-up Enchanted Tools, who was on hand to show off a pair at the CES technology show in Las Vegas last week.

“I could cut their heads off and erase their color, but I’m not sure you want to share your daily life with them,” he continues.

Several startups are working on robots that look familiar and help people without making them feel uncomfortable or unsafe.

Amazon is currently testing Agility’s “Digit,” a bipedal android that wouldn’t look out of place in Star Wars, to carry plastic trash cans in its warehouses.

Enchanted Tools has also invested in team gaming robots designed to relieve staff from repetitive tasks.

But in addition to helping, Mirok is supposed to bring a touch of “miracle” to the workplace.

“It’s a way to celebrate something very beautiful in ourselves and avoid becoming machines ourselves,” Monceaux said.

His company hopes to produce 100,000 robots over the next 10 years.

– Filling jobs –

Every CES brings its share of companion robots and androids, but they haven’t gained much foothold in homes and businesses.

Meanwhile, “labour shortages have been the number one issue since Covid across industries. Today, we have about 18 million job vacancies,” said Joe Lui, Accenture’s head of robotics.

And while some tasks have been adapted to mechanical arms and autonomous forklifts, many others require language, mobility and an understanding of the environment and therefore people.

Or AI-infused humanoids, said Lui, who believes AI can bring robots into everyday life.

“Humanoids are going to be really like co-workers in the coming years, and natural language interfaces like ChatGPT are going to be commonplace,” said Chris Nielsen, president of Levatas, a US company that has integrated generative artificial intelligence software into Spot, a four-legged robot. Boston Dynamics.

Creative AI makes bots less dependent on pre-written scripts.

But “don’t worry, robots like us are designed to help people improve their lives,” robot Moxie told AFP.

“We always follow the instructions and programs that people give us. So you have control.”

Moxie, the size of a teddy bear and infused with generative artificial intelligence, can interact with children, tell them stories, give math lessons and perform dance moves with two hands.

“Moxie is not here to replace anyone. Moxie is a mentor, a tutor and a friend,” said Daniel Thorpe of Embodied, the company that created the robot.

– “Scary” –

Bipedal, mobile and autonomous humanoids still have a long way to go before they leave the lab.

But some of their precursors have at least made it out of CES, like Moxie or Aura, a highly anthropomorphic robot that entertains patrons at The Sphere, a new concert venue in Las Vegas.

“I get a lot of questions like how old are you, what’s the meaning of life, who’s going to win the Super Bowl?” said Aura to the curious onlookers.

Aura punctuates her answers with jokes, exaggerated laughter, and even rolls her shoulders into a shrug.

For Monceaux, highly anthropomorphic robots can “provoke an epidermal reaction. They create a confusion between our humanity and their robotic nature and are terrifying.”

“No one wants to be at home or in the hospital every day,” he said.

Above all, he added, “it creates expectations of similar behavior to our own,” and thus the risk of disappointment, because the robot does not see and understand the world as we do, and will not for years to come. “

To Jonathan Hurst, Agility’s founder, its Digit robot would look strange without a head and creeping out on people.

“We talked about it a lot within the company” and the head was kept, even though it had no significant technical purpose.

At CES, Adam, a robot bartender from Richtech Robotics, serves coffee to delighted attendees and can now crack jokes thanks to generative artificial intelligence.

But to fill the coffee maker with milk, he still needs people.

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