I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the robots are coming.
Tesla Inc. has one with opposable thumbs called Optimus, and other startups like California-based Figure and Norway’s 1X are building walking machines with torsos and arms that can stack warehouses goods. But to be truly useful in their first years of labor, many of these robots will need to be steered by humans, posing a unique challenge around privacy and marketing for their makers.
Take Alfie. It’s the prototype of London startup Prosper Robotics and looks like a Minecraft character made real: slightly taller than a grown man, bulky and gliding slowly around on wheels. It is also steered by a team of gamers in the Philippines, who wear virtual reality headsets throughout the day to control its movements.