What is Moravec’s Paradox? This robotics theory from the ’80s is still extremely relevant today, and it actually explains exactly why the new generation of humanoid robots still can’t master simple tasks like loading a dishwasher or buttering your toast.
Posed by robotics researcher Hans Moravec in 1988, Moravec’s Paradox states that tasks that are simple for humans are actually very difficult for machines to replicate, and vice versa. Robotics has come a very long way since 1988, and yet Moravec’s Paradox is just as true today.
This year, we’ve seen the introduction of several new humanoid robots, as well as the strange phenomenon of “arm farms.” The Los Angeles Times first reported on these so-called arm farms, where an “army” of workers in countries like India strap cameras to their faces and spend all day folding towels and doing other menial tasks so that the footage can be used to train humanoid robots.
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