In the past few days, a video has gone viral on short video platforms. The users who recorded this video are a group of automotive media people. They recorded this video in a live broadcast and teasing form to test what it feels like to use this high-tech robot dog, which costs nearly 30,000 yuan, to pick up a cup of coffee and then deliver it back to a coffee shop.

As a result, a series of "surprising" scenes were presented to everyone.

For example, at the beginning, I was walking backwards and almost crashed the Ferrari into a hole.

For example, when lifting the robot dog, my hand was pinched because of the wrong "holding posture".

For example, running sideways and bumping into a pillar.

For example, he couldn't climb a step of a certain height and tripped.

For example, after coming out of a cafe, I slipped because of water stains on the road.

Until the coffee spilled all over the floor...

This video made people who are interested and those who are not interested in robots silent.

Finally, someone sighed and said: "The way it fell down really looked like a real dog."

The robot dog at the Robot Conference wasn't that smart

I thought I would see new uses and new values ​​of this robot dog at this World Robot Conference, but after I was on the road for more than an hour, queued at the door for 30 minutes, crossed different areas, and squeezed into a booth that had already been reserved by parents and children, I was stunned.

It still performs the original movements such as walking upright, climbing hills, and bowing. Of course, it is much more stable than the one in the coffee delivery video. At least it won't slip and fall.

Seeing these robot dogs inevitably reminds me of Boston Dynamics.

Although this company, which Google regards as its own godson, has changed hands several times, the scene of three dogs carrying a big rope demonstrated by them this year is still amazing enough, not to mention complex application scenarios such as gardeners and accident scene exploration.

The consumer-grade robot dogs shown at the Robot Conference are really hard to describe, as they are mostly used for companionship and entertainment. The slightly larger industrial-grade robot dogs seen at the scene are much more useful than consumer-grade robots in terms of function. For example, with the help of a larger "body", they can perform security inspections, surveys and explorations, public rescue, police bomb disposal detection, medical and epidemic prevention escort, etc. However, I found that these industrial-grade robots at the scene still need a long time to start up, and their speed of action is not comparable to the "vivid" Boston Dynamics robots.

Why do the robot dogs at the robot conference still give people a sense of "primaryness"?

This can perhaps be explained from two aspects. First, there is a "time difference" in research and development time. For domestic manufacturers of these robot dogs, they are almost "starting from scratch."

The rumor that Boston Dynamics is open-sourcing its products is completely nonsense. To be exact, it is two different things. In a sense, it is open-source, but it is only the Python scripting language SDK of the robot dog, which is equivalent to being able to use specific interfaces and the official API and sensors to change the robot settings. It is not what everyone understands as buying one and then copying it.

It is said that "great talents emerge from ordinary people". For example, someone on the Internet used Raspberry Pi to make a "civilian version" of a robot dog. The price of the robot dog is only 1% of that of Boston Dynamics, and the code has been open sourced.

The second question is, what role do robots like robot dogs play for general consumers?

In fact, this is the fundamental reason why most consumer-grade robot dogs can only perform bowing back and forth: they have not found a real practical use. After all, regular walking and climbing are just the process of achieving the goal, not the final actual effect.

Of course, it is not only the robot dogs that face the problem of "practical use". The bionic robots outside the museum also face this problem.

It is not the case that if you play a bionic Teresa Teng and sing "Sweet Honey" then Teresa Teng will really stand in front of you; nor is it the case that if you play Einstein giving advice on the world, he will really be able to chat with you. This kind of robot has a stiff facial expression, can only gesture and dance, and cannot even give an intelligent response to a conversation, it can only attract children on the spot.

In fact, it is not difficult to see from robot dogs and bionic robots that they are more used in the "entertainment" industry rather than assisting consumers in any certain aspect.

How far are we from Westworld?

Fortunately, the number of "showpieces" such as consumer-grade robot dogs and bionic robots only accounts for a small part of the robot conference. This time, I still saw some products that can truly benefit consumers at the robot conference.

Imagine that in the future, when you enter a shopping mall, you will no longer be greeted by humans but bionic robot “receptionists” in various shops; after purchasing large items, you no longer need to carry them home in person, but an unmanned delivery robot will deliver them to your doorstep; when you go to an amusement park and sit down to rest and want to drink a cup of coffee, it will no longer be a barista who makes you a cup of pure coffee with exquisite latte art, but a coffee robot; when you are old and need surgery, the one who performs the surgery on you will no longer be a real person, but a sophisticated surgical robot, and for rehabilitation training after surgery, you only need to wear equipment similar to mechanical armor to restore your ability to walk and limb perception.

This is not a scene from "Westworld", but a real product on display at this robot conference.

Of course, except for the fact that the "receptionist" currently lacks the most critical AI intelligence and is still far away from us, there are already many products on site that are already in commercial use, and some have even been put into use. For example, the unmanned delivery vehicle at the Meituan booth has already been put into use on the road during the epidemic. This solution to the 100-meter delivery problem at the end of instant retail can not only reduce labor costs, but also have a positive effect on delivery efficiency.

After leaving the exhibition and walking to the subway entrance, I saw a driverless McDonald's fast food delivery vehicle just outside the subway station. It provides busy office workers with more choices besides grilled cold noodles and pancakes, and is more hygienic.

In addition, there are many hands-on activities in Hall B of this robot conference. When I saw the Meituan unmanned delivery vehicle, there were many children behind me holding napkins, bags of instant noodles, and folded clothes and putting them into a box similar to the one above the sweeping robot. This is actually Meituan’s smart warehouse robot. The sorting staff only need to scan the product barcode through the top and put it into the robot flip plate. These sorting robots will line up and put it into the corresponding order basket according to the product barcode.

The children at the scene had a lot of fun delivering the items. The recognition speed and delivery and sorting speed are indeed faster than manual work, and the accuracy is also higher.

Many visitors are tired from shopping and want to have a drink and take a break. They can come to the ArtMaster collaborative robot exhibited in the prologue hall. It can make you a cup of Italian coffee with a latte art in just 75 seconds. After witnessing the entire production process in person, I think it can actually completely replace a professional barista.

First of all, the latte art robot arm and espresso machine of the ArtMaster collaborative robot are designed separately, so that different fully-automatic coffee machines can be freely selected through "modularization", which is more convenient to carry than an "integrated" machine of the coffee machine and the robot arm. Secondly, the two robot arms can make the latte art patterns more complex while ensuring integration in the core capabilities of whipping milk foam and blending latte art, which are the most difficult for baristas to control.

You only need to spend a certain amount of money to "unlock" different latte art patterns, and there is no limit on the number of latte art that a barista can create. This equipment can also automatically clean the latte art cup after latte art, which can also save a lot of time. The most important thing is that it can save the cost of baristas and ensure the output.

But whether it is a bionic robot, an unmanned transport vehicle, or a coffee art robotic arm, these products look very cool and high-tech, but in fact, the improvement in quality of life is still limited. They are not necessities. You can still complete shopping on your own without a bionic robot; you can still pick up express delivery without an unmanned delivery vehicle, but you just need to walk a few more steps; you can still drink delicious coffee without a robotic arm making latte art.

At this stage, medical rehabilitation robots can provide help to special user groups, thereby improving their quality of life. As a family member of this group of people, I have a deep understanding of this. The elderly in my family were hospitalized for a mild cerebral infarction. The hospital only performed brain unblocking treatment to relieve symptoms such as the inability to lift arms and trembling legs and feet, but recovery after discharge became a big problem.

For example, the elderly can only hold on to the windowsill and do leg-lifting and stretching exercises back and forth. Not only is this action standardized, it also cannot guarantee the safety of self-rehabilitation training.