Summary
This ESL lesson for C1 English students delves into the intriguing and often debated world of humanoid robots. Focusing on Neo, a potential robot housekeeper, the lesson explores advanced concepts such as tele-operation and the crucial privacy implications that arise when integrating AI-powered machines into our daily lives.
Through an engaging video and thought-provoking activities, students will enhance their ability to discuss the future of automation, ethical considerations, and the evolving relationship between humans and technology. The material is designed to foster lively discussions, expand vocabulary related to robotics, and practice using the Future Simple Passive to describe future developments.
Activities
- A warm-up discussion where students share their initial thoughts on home robots, exploring potential benefits, drawbacks, and their comfort level with human-operated robots.
- Video comprehension questions based on a report about Neo, covering its design, capabilities, and the role of tele-operation and AI training data.
- A vocabulary matching exercise to master key terms like humanoid, tele-operation, autonomous, dexterity, and inner sanctum.
- A grammar exercise focusing on the Future Simple Passive to discuss future developments and actions related to robotics when the agent is not emphasized.
- Speaking practice questions prompting students to discuss the ethical implications of robot privacy, "robotics slop," and the long-term impact of physical AI in daily life.
- It's here, the first humanoid robot housekeeper.
Thank you, Neo.
For $20,000, you can pre-order 1X's Neo robot now,
with delivery in 2026.
I think you missed a tiny spot over here.
Just one little catch.
There may be a human behind the curtain
pulling the robot strings.
If I throw up, will the robot throw up?
- Um.
- A company representative may need to peer
into your house via Neo's camera eyes to get things done.
To many people, this is crazy.
- You have to be okay with this
for the product to be useful.
- But is Neo a useful product?
We're twinning now, Neo.
Home robots have had two big challenges:
creating a safe and capable body and a smart brain.
1X is taking on both of those,
which is why Neo looks so different
from a more industrial factory robot.
Neo, it's 70 degrees here in California.
Why are you wearing a sweater?
- [Neo] Good question.
Bernt, why am I wearing a sweater?
- It's a combination of safety
and just also generally aesthetics.
You can think of it kinda like a skin,
except if it was an actual skin,
that would probably be pretty creepy.
- It would be creepy.
But I actually wasn't all that creeped out by Neo.
- Inside Neo, it really starts with
some very, very powerful motors
that we have developed here on 1X.
These motors are so strong and light that,
instead of using the classical gears
that you see in robots, we can actually pull on tendons
loosely inspired by biology and muscles.
This allows Neo to move around not just quietly
and smoothly, but also be very, very lightweight
and be very low energy in motion, just like people.
- That lightweight design is intended for our safety
in case the 66-pound robot falls.
Although Neo is capable of lifting up to 150 pounds,
it's not as superhuman as you'd think.
Crush it.
It's a walnut.
- There's this concept that we think
that robots are like superhuman in like pressure
and like strength. - Yeah.
- And some robots are, because they're heavily geared,
but that means you're not sensitive, right, and delicate.
Neo doesn't work like this at all.
It works more like us.
So the finger strength of Neo is about the same as a human.
- That body lets Neo try to do a lot of things humans do,
emphasis on try.
Can I get a water?
If only the real world didn't have doors.
All in, it took Neo a little over a minute
to fetch a water from the fridge 10 feet away.
Thank you, Neo.
Next challenge: load three items in the dishwasher.
You got this, Neo, you got it.
And that took five minutes.
The Neo I saw isn't the one shipping in 2026.
The new model will be safer and have better hand dexterity.
The one I saw still needed to take breaks to charge
and cool down.
The challenge isn't just Neo's body.
It's also its brain.
The body has to perform tasks safely,
but the brain needs to know how to do them on its own
without human help.
But right now, everything I saw Neo do was guided
by a skilled pilot.
- Tele-operation is essentially when there is a human
in the loop. - And who is the voice
I'm hearing right now of Neo?
- [Neo] I am a remote operator in a different room
in the building.
- And what's your name?
- [Neo] Turing.
- What's your real name?
- [Neo] My real name is Turing.
- Like that's your name on your birth certificate?
- [Neo] Yes it is, believe it or not.
- Alan Turing was, of course, the famous computer science
and artificial intelligence pioneer.
But this Turing with a VR headset and controllers
was the one actually operating Neo.
That is, until he handed me the controllers.
I actually might throw up.
I think my hand is.
I have no idea where I'm facing.
This is me doing the Macarena. - Okay.
- Yeah. - Yeah, ooh, yeah.
Yeah, we're fine.
- And Neo had to go to urgent care.
See you, Neo.
Why does Neo need to be operated like this
in the first place?
Because its brain, AKA an AI neural network,
needs to learn from more real-world experience.
The videos of the robot doing things via tele-operation
become the training data to make the AI model smarter.
That's why 1X is putting Neo in the homes of early adopters.
- I think it's quite important for me to just say that,
in 2026, if you buy this product,
it is because you're okay with that social contract.
If we don't have your data,
we can't make the product better.
I'm a big fan of what I call
like big brother, big sister principle, right?
Big sister helps you.
Big brother is just there to kinda monitor you.
And we are very much the big sister.
Depending on how much you want to trade,
we can be more useful.
And you decide where on that scale you want to be.
- Do you right now know what things Neo, in 2026,
will do autonomously versus what it will do tele-operated?
- So when you get your Neo in 2026,
it will do most of the things in your home autonomously.
The quality of that work will vary
and will improve drastically quite fast as we get data.
- [Joanna] To be clear, on my visit,
I didn't see Neo do anything autonomously.
The company did share this video
of Neo autonomously opening the door.
- You know, there's this new trending concept now
called AI slop, right?
- I do know.
- It's a very powerful concept of,
let's call it robotics slop.
It's the most useful kind of slop.
Because if you put all of my glasses
from my dishwasher in my cabinet, I'm pretty happy.
- Right. - It is going to be
not perfect, but back to like just incredibly useful.
- Neo might not fold my shirt perfectly,
but if an arm is like kinda hanging out of the shirt,
like, it's okay, it's robotic slop.
It did an okay job. - To me, at least like,
that's very okay.
- Honestly, it isn't bad.
Thank you.
But the reality is, at least at first,
much of Neo's work will be done by someone else.
There will be an app where you can schedule tele-operation,
specifying exactly what and when you want Neo
to do things in your house.
- So we wanna, of course, make sure
that we respect privacy as much as possible
and that it's always on your terms.
You are always in control.
Some examples of this is the tele-operator
does not see you, right?
We can blur people.
Tele-operator also cannot go into specific parts
of your home where you set no-go zones.
So that's enforced on the software level.
So even if the tele-operator tried,
it cannot get the robot to go into those homes.
And also the tele-operator can never connect to a robot
unless you approve it.
- [Joanna] Other companies, like Figure and Tesla,
are also racing to build humanoid robots
and develop their own AI models
to make them fully autonomous.
As someone who's always dreamed of the home robot
straight out of "The Jetsons."
- Let's go home, Rosie.
- Yes, ma'am.
- [Joanna] The dream finally feels within reach.
But I also couldn't shake flashes of "Ex Machina."
Do you have a name?
- Ava.
- Neo turns on the stove and throws some paper on
and walks away.
Can Neo do that?
Will Neo do that?
- Neo will not do that.
Physically, can the robot do that?
Yes.
Physically, can a lot of products in your home
do something dangerous if they decided to?
Yes.
We will ensure that that is not something
that Neo is allowed to do.
There are multiple layers of safety systems here
that ensures that Neo cannot do something like this.
- Neo decides to take a very heavy piece of wood,
like the top of a table, and drop it on me
when I'm sleeping.
- Neo will not be able to or allowed to.
It's physically capable of,
but it will not be allowed to pick up something
that is that heavy.
So it's like things that Neo cannot do
is like pick up something that is very hot,
pick up something that's very heavy,
pick up something that's very sharp.
- Nice job, Neo, high five.
Nice, oh, I'm over here.
Spending the day with Neo was a bit like spending the day
with a toddler learning how to do things in the world.
Come on, you got more, oh, I'm gonna break the robot.
The next few years isn't about owning a super useful robot.
It's about raising one,
letting it learn from your home, routines, and chores,
all at the expense of the privacy of your inner sanctum.
Even if you think this is all crazy,
what Neo really signals is the beginning
of physical AI in our lives and homes,
a future where we may work alongside a new kind of machine.
- What I really hope we can achieve is,
in five years, everyone has a very high quality of life,
everyone has a feeling of independence,
irregardless of their age or any kind of disability.
I do hope we can give people more of their agency back
and people can focus on what they actually want to do.
- No, like this, six seven, six seven.
Vocabulary focus
The vocabulary section introduces essential terms related to humanoid robotics and personal data. Key terms include "humanoid," "pre-order," "tele-operation," "autonomous," "dexterity," and "inner sanctum." Students will learn to discuss the features of advanced robots and the concerns around their integration into private spaces.
Grammar focus
This lesson concentrates on the Future Simple Passive. Students will learn how to form and use this structure (will be + past participle) to talk about future actions where the focus is on the action itself or the receiver of the action, often when the performer is unknown or less important, such as when discussing technological advancements and future societal impacts.
Humanoid Robots: Neo Housekeeper, Tele-operation, Privacy
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