My first fight with a robot started badly.
I punched it hard in the chest and felt a jarring sensation running back up my arm. It was like hitting a brick wall.
Things got better when I started kicking it.
I gave it a good shove with my foot and it went reeling back into the ropes of the ring.
At this point, a human might have given up, but robots are indefatigable. It bounced straight back up, ready for further punishment.
So I kicked it again.
Reader, I am not proud of this, but in my defence, it was the robot or me. I couldn’t let humanity down.
To clarify, the robot was fine with all this. Well, its owners were anyway – I didn’t exchange many words with my opponent, mainly because it couldn’t talk.
Robot didn’t stand a fighting chance
Chinese robotics company Unitree invited me to fight one of its G1 units live on stage at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the world’s biggest technology fair.
The event was arranged as a demonstration of the robot’s ability to work alongside humans. It had no chance of beating me or even landing a blow.
The robot stumbled into the ropes several times
Once I’d recovered from the bout, I was able to appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of the technological achievement I’d just witnessed.
Balance is tricky for robots, but the G1 was able to get back up even after a hefty kick.
What it lacked was agility. It wasn’t able to dodge my blows the way a human might.
In part, this was by design – Unitree wants the humans to enjoy the experience, which means letting them win.
Rowland Manthorpe triumphed over the robot
But at the same time, this reveals a basic technological challenge faced by any humanoid robot…
