Roboticist Rodney Brooks Warns of Looming Humanoid Robot Investment Bubble
A leading figure in robotics is sounding the alarm on the current surge of investment in humanoid robots, arguing the billions being poured into the sector are likely to be squandered. Rodney Brooks, co-founder of iRobot and a long-time MIT researcher, believes the current approach to developing human-like robots is fundamentally flawed.
Brooks is particularly critical of companies like Tesla and Figure, which are attempting to impart dexterity to robots through video learning – mimicking human movements. He dismisses this strategy as “pure fantasy thinking” in a recently published essay.
The core issue, according to Brooks, lies in the complexity of the human hand. He points out that human hands possess roughly 17,000 specialized touch receptors, a level of sensory sophistication far beyond the capabilities of current robotic technology. While machine learning has revolutionized fields like speech and image recognition, those advancements benefited from established methods for data capture. “We don’t have such a tradition for touch data,” Brooks explains.
Beyond the challenges of replicating human dexterity, Brooks also raises critically important safety concerns. He notes that bipedal, full-sized humanoid robots require substantial energy to maintain balance, and a fall could be dangerous. He further warns that scaling up these robots presents an escalating risk: a robot twice the size would possess eight times the possibly harmful energy upon impact.
Looking ahead 15 years, Brooks predicts that truly accomplished robots will deviate considerably from the human form.He envisions designs incorporating wheels for mobility,multiple arms for increased functionality,and specialized sensors tailored to specific tasks. He remains convinced that current investments are fueling costly experiments unlikely to yield scalable, mass-produced robots. As of September 16, 2025, companies like Figure had already reached a $3.9 billion valuation in their latest funding round, a figure Brooks suggests is unsustainable given the technological hurdles.
