Former Google exec shares what he learned after 7 years trying to give AI a robot body

Hans Peter Brondmo, former CEO of Google 's robotics moonshot project Everyday Robotics recently wrote in Wired about why he thinks that building AI-powered robots that can flexibly operate in the real world is going to take much longer than Silicon Valley believes and promises. "As the head of Alphabet’s AI-powered robotics moonshot, I came to believe many things. For one, robots can’t come soon enough. For another, they shouldn’t look like us," he wrote. Started in 2016, Google scrapped Everyday Robotics last year (February 2023).

Brondmo wrote that he joined X, Alphabet’s secret innovation lab, in early 2016. The project, under the leadership of Astro Teller, aimed to create AI-powered robots that could assist humans in everyday tasks. My involvement was driven by a belief in Google's potential to make a significant impact on the world. The company's commitment to long-term, ambitious projects, and its ability to invest heavily in research and development, made it an ideal environment for such a venture. "My job: help figure out what to do with the employees and technology left over from nine robot companies that Google had acquired," he said.

The Moonshot Mindset
Google X was established with the goal of addressing global challenges through innovative technologies. Projects were required to meet specific criteria, including addressing a significant problem, utilizing groundbreaking technology, and offering a radical solution. Google founder Larry Page — favored moving directly to "end to end" (e2e) learning, where you'd hand robots a general task and they'd be able to figure out how to execute it. That, Page felt, was a goal worthy of a moonshot. But it also turned out to be out of reach. "I have come to believe," Brondmo writes, "it will take many, many thousands, maybe even millions of robots doing stuff in the real world to collect enough data to train e2e models that make the robots do anything other than fairly narrow, well-defined tasks...."

Creating robots capable of assisting humans in everyday environments presented numerous challenges. These included developing AI systems that could understand and respond to complex real-world situations, designing robots that were safe and efficient, and addressing the ethical implications of artificial intelligence. Training AI models to perform complex tasks requires vast amounts of data. This is particularly challenging for robotics, as robots need to learn from real-world experiences in order to develop the skills necessary to navigate and interact with their surroundings.

Brondmo wrote that his mother had advanced Parkinson's disease, and hoped that one day robots could support her. "Our frequent conversations toward the end of her life convinced me more than ever that a future version of what we started at Everyday Robots will be coming. In fact, it can't come soon enough.

Future of AI Robotics
The future of robotics is promising, but it will require continued investment in research and development, as well as a focus on long-term goals. By addressing the challenges and opportunities presented by this technology, we can create a future in which robots play a valuable role in our lives. "Eight and a half years later—and 18 months after Google decided to discontinue its largest bet in robotics and AI—it seems as if a new robotics startup pops up every week. I am more convinced than ever that the robots need to come. Yet I have concerns that Silicon Valley, with its focus on “minimum viable products” and VCs’ general aversion to investing in hardware, will be patient enough to win the global race to give AI a robot body . And much of the money that is being invested is focusing on the wrong things," Brondmo said.