You can’t create a great humanoid home robot without breaking a few eggs, and in that sense, GigaAI’s SeeLight S1 almost does it. It doesn’t break eggs, but it does seem to break the rules of good cooking skills, offering some of the worst-looking scrambled eggs and tomatoes I’ve seen in quite some time.
SeeLight S1 attempts this kitchen adventure during a long demo video on YouTube in which the new humanoid robot, which was unveiled on May 20, navigates (having no legs is probably one of its best features) an apartment in China and handles a wide range of home care tasks.
The robot cooks, cleans, organizes, washes clothes and even folds clothes. I’m not saying I do any of these things well.
The $28,000 (approximate yen equivalent) robot has a human-like torso and articulated legs bolted to a rolling base. The hands are a pair of claws attached to arms that look more like industrial robot armor than anything human.
Look
He starts his day by preparing what looks like tofu to heat and serve in the microwave, then quickly moves to the kitchen counter where he cuts tomatoes into very large eighths; Not having a mouth, you may not understand “bite size.”
Next, the SeeLight S1 prepares some scrambled eggs, starting with two shelled eggs in a bowl. They are done quickly, but it is also obvious that most of the video in these tasks has been sped up. Therefore, it is not clear how long it takes the robot to do something.
The robot greases the pan and then randomly cooks the scrambled eggs before adding the tomatoes. The eggs seemed overcooked and the tomatoes undercooked. No matter, this robot was serving them. I’ve also seen him over-fry an egg with just a little more success.
Later, SeeLight S1 washed some clothes. The funny thing is that it seemed to take the dry clothes out of the dryer and then transfer the same four clothes to the washing machine. It was not a convincing demonstration.
The robot is also shown with the family’s apartment, where the mother asks the robot to bring what they need to go out and start the day. He turns around and grabs bags, backpacks, clothes and a hat. Actually, the hat somehow appeared on the robot’s head.
According to numerous reports, GigaAI’s robot is expected to enter testing in Chinese homes by 2027. GigaAI hopes to cut the price in half by 2028, and hopefully by then the SeeLight S1 will know how to properly produce some eggs.
The need is real
Why create humanoid robots, especially if they cannot perform many of these so-called frontier tasks as fast or better than a human? Someday, having such robots may be an absolute necessity,
China’s population is reportedly shrinking and aging. There are fewer babies and more elderly people. This is a story playing out around the world, and it’s one of the reasons why places like China and Japan are trying to accelerate humanoid robots that help and care for the home, like the SeeLight S1.
GigaAI SeeLight S1 may not be that impressive at the moment. Still, it is probably imperative that it improve over the next decade because there will soon be millions of people who will need help managing their homes and possibly caring for elderly loved ones who cannot care for themselves.
