Embodied AI hasn't escaped gravity: humanoid demos repeat cobot boom failures from a decade ago
yongqianme · x · 2026-09-17
Drawing on the 2015–2018 collaborative robot boom, the author argues today's embodied AI and humanoid demos — latte art, tea pouring, unmanned pharmacies, ice cream stands — are déjà vu.
Key points:
- These show-floor demos already failed as businesses a decade ago
- Cobots (Rethink Robotics' Baxter/Sawyer, Universal Robots, China's first cobot startups) only closed the business loop after retreating into factories: screwdriving, welding, palletizing
- Today's founders carry sky-high valuations onto the same reefs
The takeaway: use-case selection, not model capability, determines embodied AI commercialization — and history is repeating.
Related event: Embodied AI Risks Repeating the Cobots' Failed Path(4 posts)→
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