Do People Really Want Humanoid Robots in Their Homes?

I’ve been teaching robotics at the University of Washington for more than a decade. Every class begins with “robotics news of the week.” For years, humanoid robots appeared only occasionally—usually in the form of viral clips of Boston Dynamics’ Atlas doing parkour or RoboCup humanoid league bloopers that served more as comic relief than serious news.But over the past few years, things have shifted. Each week brings another humanoid demo, each flashier than the last