It’s actually really hard to make a robot, guys

Enlarge this image The Tesla robot is one of the many iterations looking to make headway as AI accelerates robotic development. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite hide caption toggle caption AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite The Tesla robot is one of the many iterations looking to make headway as AI accelerates robotic development. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite Robots have been a thing for a long time, but they’ve never quite met expectations. While AI has changed the game for chatbots, it’s not quite so clear for robots. NPR science desk correspondent Geoff Brumfiel spoke to our colleagues over on our science podcast Short Wave on how humanoid robots are actually developing with the help of artificial intelligence. It was a fascinating discussion and so we are sharing that conversation with you today on the Indicator. Related episodes: Is AI underrated? (Apple / Spotify) Is AI overrated? (Apple / Spotify) Dial M for Mechanization (Apple / Spotify) Sponsor Message For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.