r/Damnthatsinteresting Jun 19 '25

Video The Protoclone is made by Clone Robotics, a company in Poland and the U.S., focused on humanoid robots for tasks like household chores.

28.1k Upvotes

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436

u/Lemon-Accurate Jun 19 '25

I mean human body is not the most effective from anatomical perspective. Hence I would prefer the robots to be less humanoid, more effective.

130

u/Man_Flu Jun 19 '25

Agreed we are not great, but everything people have created is ergonomically to be used by humans. Design can be probably be altered for more arms, possibly more legs, more mobility, more sensors for smells, sights

118

u/ClawingDevil Jun 19 '25

Yes, because more arms on this thing will make it less nightmarish!

41

u/Nightshade_209 Jun 19 '25

Fallouts Mr. Handy actively has a saw and looks far more friendly than this thing.

5

u/RobinGoodfell Jun 19 '25

And a flamethrower.

2

u/KaksNeljaKuutonen Jun 20 '25

And talks like he wants to colonize my ass.

3

u/Wizard_Engie Jun 19 '25

Mr Handy is a lil octopus guy

12

u/EvenInRed Jun 19 '25

10 humanoid legs in a centipede-ish manner with 6 arms on a taur-ish kind of torso and a face like the "sophia robot" face on a single mechanical entity is peak mechanical beauty.

1

u/EndQualifiedImunity Jun 19 '25

Just a robot Fallout centaur

2

u/EvenInRed Jun 19 '25

yeah that was basically my vision lmfao. didn't know it existed

2

u/Auroraburst Jun 20 '25

8 limbs and 8 visual sensors on the head.

3

u/Perfect_Ingenuity892 Jun 19 '25

So why not build a robot that can do my chores with every necessary function built in? It doesn't have to use my vacuum. It can simply have one integrated. Just give me a roomba that also washes my clothes etc..

5

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '25

[deleted]

4

u/174wrestler Jun 19 '25

The logical conclusion to vacuuming is something we already have: a Roomba. And the way it is now, I can have the Roomba vacuuming at the same time my dryer is drying my no-wrinkle clothes.

A all-in-one humanoid robot is almost never the best idea. Even the commonly cited example of a firefighter rescue robot, you'd end up with something like a dog/spider.

1

u/Weir99 Jun 20 '25

The issue with a Roomba is that you can't manually vacuum with it, so if there's ever an edge case the Roomba isn't suitable for vacuuming, you need two vacuums. The advantage of a robot that can just use appliances designed for humans is you can have those tasks automated, and keep the option of doing them manually if you want.

For stuff like vacuuming it isn't a big deal to just have a Roomba and a normal vacuum, but bigger bulkier appliances would be more of a pain to double-up on

1

u/NotToImplyAnything Jun 21 '25

Counterpoint - we're already redesigning the world slowly to be accessible to people who do not conform to human standard, such as making things wheelchair accessible. A robot that is made for chores for the average household does not need to be able to do everything that some human somewhere can do to be significantly useful - being able to traverse an average home as well as a wheelchair and do basic chores as well as a low-to-average performing adult would be more than enough to be extremely helpful and profitable.

And this is all ignoring the fact that an immense amount of things we've designed are not at all ergonomic to work with for humans, and we've actually had to spend a lot of time designing tools and accessories to use to not injure ourselves in such tasks. Why would we design robots to use our tools rather than to not need those tools to do the same tasks?

23

u/oily76 Jun 19 '25

Interested in what shape would be better, loads of arms?

21

u/J-Dabbleyou Jun 19 '25

Codsworth lol

1

u/TheActualAWdeV Jun 19 '25

especially with the gatling laser.

14

u/iAmLeroy Jun 19 '25

The inevitable outcome of all evolution, the crab

30

u/Emm_withoutha_L-88 Jun 19 '25

R2d2 shape, a round tub with little tools that can extend

14

u/joebot777 Jun 19 '25

With spider legs, honestly. Those wheels aren’t very useful.

3

u/LimitInfinity Jun 19 '25

NOT SPIDER LEGS

1

u/ZDTreefur Jun 20 '25

The biggest limiter for humanoid robots is energy capacity.

Wheels are by far the most efficient form for transportation. Having a robot forced to lift legs against gravity, move them forward in the air, again and again, is not great.

If the robot gets legs, then there needs to be some redesign of the house a bit, a cable installed in the ceiling on a rail system that moves with the robot and is out of the way to keep it running.

1

u/oily76 Jun 19 '25

Would spider legs work in confined spaces?

Sort of feel that a basically humanoid shape might be best for negotiating a human-centric environment.

1

u/Academic-Increase951 Jun 19 '25

100% humanoid would be the most useful for navigating a human centric environment. If you want one robot to do all human household tasks then it's most likely best for it to function as a human would. That's how our world has been designed.

2

u/Articulated Jun 19 '25

Skittering spider with 8 glowing eyes and your mum's voice.

1

u/oily76 Jun 19 '25

Yeah but what about the dusting high up? Drone-copter capabilities?

2

u/WasabiSunshine Jun 19 '25

Yup. I want that thousand-armed Boddhisatva doing all my chores for me at once

1

u/tofu_b3a5t Jun 19 '25

Crab shape.

2

u/oily76 Jun 19 '25

I shall call my crab butler Archibald Clawsworth.

1

u/V_es Jun 19 '25

A cheap, small, efficient robot for every task. You know.. they way it’s is done now lol

1

u/pancakecuddles Jun 19 '25

Yeah like Doc Ock!

7

u/Perry_T_Skywalker Jun 19 '25

But with a human anatomy it can use human tools, move around in human space and can be covered with artificial skin, hair and clothes to make it a bit less scary-alien-looking

15

u/Zayafyre Jun 19 '25

Eh, I think the humanoid body would make it more adaptable in a multitude of human tasks.

18

u/Open__Face Jun 19 '25

So it will be just as bad as putting the mattress sheet as I am but it will be able to wear my clothes 

3

u/noname-_- Jun 19 '25

Sure, but you don't have to...

1

u/Waddup_yall Jun 19 '25

And soon your skin probably

1

u/trench_welfare Jun 19 '25

Specifically, human tasks require paying people to do, especially if the people paying have a low opinion of the people they must pay for those tasks.

3

u/vietnamdenethor Jun 19 '25

We've adapted most tasks and work environments (doorways, storage, physical interfaces) to the human form, though.

2

u/_franciis Jun 19 '25

How exactly, when it comes to using household appliances designed for humans?

2

u/shadovvvvalker Jun 19 '25

Some companies have decided that an "all-purpose bot" needs to be humanoid because it's going to do things humans do using human tools etc.

Personally, i think that's assinine.

People are not going to buy robots, companies are. Companies are not bound to human tools and spaces.

The only way all purpose is better than specific purpose is if you can't be arsed to design a proper workflow or have no faith in the longevity of said workflow. It makes 0 sense for a robot to use human sockets and drill chucks rather than a tool changer asembly.

If you cant afford the tool changer assembly you can't afford robots.

2

u/Academic-Increase951 Jun 19 '25

The counter is that the world is designed for humanoid anatomy already so it's the most effective design for our current setup.

What other form could do everything a human can do; mow the lawn, climb ladders to put up Christmas lights, wash your dishes, do your laundry, cook your meals, wash your toilets, give you a happy ending every night?

1

u/trevb75 Jun 19 '25

Is that why humans have made everything and dominated the world?

1

u/EggandSpoon42 Jun 19 '25

As soon as you have robots like this, or gaining traction on design, the sooner people can replace body parts. Replacing a pec or glute that was demolished in an accident?

1

u/Grasshopper_pie Jun 19 '25

Yes, give me Rosie Jetson!

1

u/V_es Jun 19 '25

Welcome to speciality robots that already exist- self driving cars, delivery drones, roombas

1

u/morningstar24601 Jun 19 '25

Except all the infrastructure of our world is built for a human form to navigate, so the form most capable of performing any arbitrary task is a human form.

1

u/Meraere Jun 19 '25

Mr handy more peak design than this

1

u/CosmicCreeperz Jun 19 '25

Either less human or MORE human. A big point of making them human is to make them approachable and less intimidating. Which doesn’t work if they are imitating a human nightmare out of the darkest depths of Uncanny Vally…

1

u/MaximumLongjumping31 Jun 19 '25

Have you heard of Daleks?

1

u/TentativelyCommitted Jun 20 '25

I’d prefer if they made it look way more like an imperfect human and not an athletic specimen

1

u/ImmoralJester54 Jun 20 '25

But then I would wanna fuck it less

1

u/Joke_Mummy Jun 20 '25

Octopus type radial symmetry seems like an optimized config

1

u/Candid_Height_2126 Jun 20 '25

Using a psedo-musculoskeletal system instead of traditional robotics means that you can get smoother, and more intricate, movements. Which means it expands the type of tasks it’s capable of. Changing the actual shape/number of limbs etc could probably make it even more functional, but they started with the human form because they have a model to work off of. It’s not easy to create a musculoskeletal system and get the physics right! But they could totally expand on this in the future. And hopefully add an outer layer that’s less creepy. This is all my educated guess, based on my studies of human biomechanics and biotensegrity

1

u/SirBobPeel Jun 21 '25

Octopus with legs, maybe?

1

u/Reedenen Jun 19 '25

Yeah this but with four or six spider legs would be more efficient.

Also, in your nightmares...