It is rare for a robot video to fill me with sadness, but this new 1x featuring the new humanoid robot Neo Gama from society left me in a state of boredom.
Neo Gamma is an update of the NEO Beta 1x introduced six months ago. At the time, society said that its black and gray humanoid robot underwent home tests. In the video, he showed the bot briefly interacting with (or even embraced) a human companion. It left me and other roboticians I spoke skeptical. Humanoid robots at home are generally considered a decade, but 1x seemed to try to fill this gap considerably.
Recently, the company has unveiled Neo Gamma, a robot with many aesthetic and technical improvements. There are new “emotional” ear rings which, according to the company, will help improve communication. I guess it is because the rings light up when you talk to the robot, which includes microphones and speakers.
They redid the blanket of the body and almost made a more attractive beige, making it softer and safer for the house.
The movement also obtained an upgrade. Neo Gamma’s arms can now swing, and walking is more fluid than that of the beta model. In addition, the robot can now sit on a chair.
As with Neo Beta, Neo Gamma integrates AI. For example, the updated visual manipulation model will allow gamma to manage the objects he has never seen before. Overall, 1X says on its website, “Neo Gamma’s design opens the door to start internal home tests – a first step in the creation of fully autonomous humanoids”.
To watch
To illustrate this point, 1x published this launch video, which shows Neo Gamma operating in a typical house. He cleans, makes and serves coffee, pours wine and collects the owner’s grocery store. Neo Gamma even cleanses windows.
But it is a lonely existence. Most of the time, the video of the video ignores Neo Gamma, even if it is in service and works around them. When he serves coffee, they barely look up. As he sucks in the carpet, he doesn’t even look. There is a touching moment when Neo Gamma helps to hang an image and even has a boost, but it is the extent of a real human commitment. At the end of the video, the couple enjoy a meal in the dining room, the one I bet that Neo Gamma prepared and served, and the robot is in the other room alone. He takes place on the sofa and looks in space.
Is this the “life” that we plan for our humanoid companions – with us, but separated? Even if I suppose that these robots will have no feeling, I am sure that others and I anthropomorphize them and will start to thank them, to discuss and to engage in more human ways. I guess I wonder if 1X had shown me a little more human interaction with a natural robot.
1X has not set a price or delivery date for Neo Gamma, but you can reach the waiting list to become the Mas du Robot … Er … beloved owner.
In the meantime, I think I have to cheer up and go watch a fun cat video.
