Renowned roboticist and iRobot founder Rodney Brooks is warning that the surge in humanoid robot funding may be headed for a reality check. In a new essay, Brooks argued that despite billions flowing into companies like Figure, humanoids still lack the dexterity and fine motor skills needed for practical use, making current hype unsustainable.
Brooks’ skepticism is echoed by several experts and venture capitalists in the robotics space. Fady Saad, general partner at Cybernetix Ventures, said that beyond potential space exploration, humanoids don’t yet have clear commercial use cases. “We continue to be conservative and skeptical about the actual revenues that will be generated,” he said, noting that safety and comfort concerns also pose major barriers to mainstream adoption.
Industry leaders compare today’s humanoid excitement to the early hype around self-driving cars, with Nvidia’s Sanja Fidler noting that full-scale deployment could take many years. Nvidia’s chief scientist Bill Dally agreed, emphasizing that while the technology is promising, the path to reliable humanoids is “really hard.”
Meanwhile, companies like Tesla and Figure have faced scrutiny over their progress. Tesla’s Optimus bot, first announced in 2021, has yet to see real-world deployment, and Figure’s $39 billion valuation has raised eyebrows amid questions about how many humanoids are actually in use.
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Still, Brooks and others believe humanoids have a future, just not the human-like form most imagine. Instead, future robots may rely on wheels and hybrid designs rather than legs and hands. Startups like Proception and Loomia are already developing touch and dexterity technologies to bridge that gap.
Some startups are seeing early traction: K-Scale Labs reportedly received 100 preorders within five days, and Hugging Face’s Reachy Mini humanoid robots hit $1 million in sales shortly after launch.
For now, experts agree the humanoid revolution is coming, but not as soon, or as smoothly, as investors hope.
