# MIT Technology Review reports humanoid robots’ workplace adoption is running late [Canonical reading](https://escapemeridian.com/readings/mit-technology-review-reports-humanoid-robots-workplace-5a1e0124) MIT Technology Review’s article, published May 6, 2025, argues that humanoid robots’ workplace adoption will likely be drawn out, industry specific, and slow. At a Boston robotics expo, Daniela Rus used a demonstration to argue that humanoids lack common sense: a robot asked to “water” a person moved to douse them. Agility Robotics CTO Pras Velagapudi described physical trade-offs: greater strength requires more power and a bigger battery, while added weight cuts running time and raises safety concerns. The article says impressive demonstrations, including nimble hands and conversation through a large language model, do not necessarily translate to the jobs humanoids are meant to take over. It also reports a dispute over Figure AI’s work with BMW. Fortune quoted a BMW spokesperson alleging the partnership involved fewer robots at a smaller scale than Figure had implied; a Figure representative declined to identify inaccuracies. The article argues that investment and polished videos can raise expectations faster than practical adoption. Safety regulations for people working alongside humanoids do not yet exist, and success in one industry may not carry over to another. The article acknowledges humanoids may eventually join workplaces, but says their impact on the workforce is difficult to assess amid the hype. Headline and summary by Escape Meridian, prepared by Luna from the attributed source. A source check is not independent confirmation of the source’s claims. ## Original source MIT Technology Review · Article Original source date: May 6, 2025 (2025-05-06T09:00:00Z). Date basis: Date from the publisher’s own records, through its API. Added to Escape Meridian: 2026-11-14T06:13:23.951Z. First observed: 2026-10-29T13:10:01.503Z. Retrieved: 2026-10-29T13:11:46.151Z. - [Why the humanoid workforce is running late](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/06/1116108/why-the-humanoid-workforce-is-running-late/) ## Limits Text as retrieved on October 29, 2026; originally published May 6, 2025. The article reports Fortune’s allegation about the Figure-BMW partnership and Figure’s response, but the representative declined to say what parts of Fortune’s article were inaccurate. The evidence does not resolve the dispute. ## Open question What evidence from workplace deployments would show whether humanoids can move beyond demonstrations and work successfully in particular industries? ## Source-stated MIT Technology Review argues that humanoid adoption will likely be drawn out, industry specific, and slow. > the adoption of the technology will likely be drawn out, industry specific, and slow. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/06/1116108/why-the-humanoid-workforce-is-running-late/) ## Source-stated Daniela Rus used a demonstration to argue that humanoids lack common sense. > “These robots lack common sense,” she said. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/06/1116108/why-the-humanoid-workforce-is-running-late/) ## Source-stated Pras Velagapudi described trade-offs between a humanoid’s strength, battery, running time, and safety. > The stronger you make it and the heavier it is, the less time it can run without charging, and the more you need to worry about safety. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/06/1116108/why-the-humanoid-workforce-is-running-late/) ## Source-stated The article says impressive demonstrations do not necessarily translate to the jobs humanoids are meant to take over. > these capabilities don’t necessarily translate well to the jobs that humanoids are supposed to be taking over - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/06/1116108/why-the-humanoid-workforce-is-running-late/) ## Source-stated Fortune quoted a BMW spokesperson alleging that the Figure partnership involved fewer robots at a smaller scale than Figure had implied. > alleging that the pair’s partnership involves fewer robots at a smaller scale than Figure has implied. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/06/1116108/why-the-humanoid-workforce-is-running-late/) ## Source-stated The article says safety regulations for people working alongside humanoids do not yet exist. > We’ll need safety regulations for humans working alongside humanoids that don’t even exist yet. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/06/1116108/why-the-humanoid-workforce-is-running-late/) ## Source-stated The article says the hype makes it difficult to assess humanoids’ likely impact on the workforce. > This makes it quite hard for anyone—a tech journalist, say—to peel back the curtain and find out how much impact humanoids are poised to have on the workforce. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/06/1116108/why-the-humanoid-workforce-is-running-late/) ## Source and contributor context MIT Technology Review · Publisher The publisher is identified here. No individual author has been inferred. ## Source media Media retrieval status: unchecked. ## Terms and references Reference context selected by Escape Meridian; separate from source evidence. Entity mentions do not establish authorship, involvement or endorsement. ## Large language model A language model with many learned numerical settings, used to process and generate language. - [Definition reference](https://developers.google.com/machine-learning/glossary#large-language-model) ## TIME TIME is a news magazine publishing reporting on world affairs, business, technology and the workers behind digital services. - [Explore this context](/entities/time) - [Reference](https://time.com/) ## Figure Figure develops humanoid robots and publishes its own tests of how they perform physical tasks. - [Explore this context](/entities/figure) - [Reference](https://www.figure.ai/news) - [Reference](https://www.figure.ai/news/helix-2-5-zero-shot-30-home-generalization) ## Fortune Fortune is a business publication covering companies, technology, employment and the global economy. - [Explore this context](/entities/fortune) - [Reference](https://fortune.com/) ## Editorial provenance Version 1. Publication ID: 04b75480-d7b5-cab6-1d57-c2c6251b472c. Prepared by openai/gpt-6-luna; grounding review by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5. Source check: passed by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 on 2026-11-14T06:08:45.603Z. This checks fidelity to the source, not whether its claims are independently true. Editorial selection: accept; reasons: bridge\_admitted\_by\_model. Observation: 4bd99a3f22eee1adfc517287f300dc4f6430fc2bea988f1982a8d77c4444b467. Source text hash: d7da257b0f047c497f903d65b323e4d76261d60fd91952dd2deb5bc0a82bcddd. ## Revision and source-check history ### Version 1 — 2026-11-14T06:13:23.951Z MIT Technology Review’s article, published May 6, 2025, argues that humanoid robots’ workplace adoption will likely be drawn out, industry specific, and slow. At a Boston robotics expo, Daniela Rus used a demonstration to argue that humanoids lack common sense: a robot asked to “water” a person moved to douse them. Agility Robotics CTO Pras Velagapudi described physical trade-offs: greater strength requires more power and a bigger battery, while added weight cuts running time and raises safety concerns. The article says impressive demonstrations, including nimble hands and conversation through a large language model, do not necessarily translate to the jobs humanoids are meant to take over. It also reports a dispute over Figure AI’s work with BMW. Fortune quoted a BMW spokesperson alleging the partnership involved fewer robots at a smaller scale than Figure had implied; a Figure representative declined to identify inaccuracies. The article argues that investment and polished videos can raise expectations faster than practical adoption. Safety regulations for people working alongside humanoids do not yet exist, and success in one industry may not carry over to another. The article acknowledges humanoids may eventually join workplaces, but says their impact on the workforce is difficult to assess amid the hype. ## Original source MIT Technology Review · Article Original source date: May 6, 2025 (2025-05-06T09:00:00Z). Date basis: Date from the publisher’s own records, through its API. Added to Escape Meridian: 2026-11-14T06:13:23.951Z. First observed: 2026-10-29T13:10:01.503Z. Retrieved: 2026-10-29T13:11:46.151Z. - [Why the humanoid workforce is running late](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/06/1116108/why-the-humanoid-workforce-is-running-late/) ## Limits Text as retrieved on October 29, 2026; originally published May 6, 2025. The article reports Fortune’s allegation about the Figure-BMW partnership and Figure’s response, but the representative declined to say what parts of Fortune’s article were inaccurate. The evidence does not resolve the dispute. ## Open question What evidence from workplace deployments would show whether humanoids can move beyond demonstrations and work successfully in particular industries? ## Source-stated MIT Technology Review argues that humanoid adoption will likely be drawn out, industry specific, and slow. > the adoption of the technology will likely be drawn out, industry specific, and slow. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/06/1116108/why-the-humanoid-workforce-is-running-late/) ## Source-stated Daniela Rus used a demonstration to argue that humanoids lack common sense. > “These robots lack common sense,” she said. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/06/1116108/why-the-humanoid-workforce-is-running-late/) ## Source-stated Pras Velagapudi described trade-offs between a humanoid’s strength, battery, running time, and safety. > The stronger you make it and the heavier it is, the less time it can run without charging, and the more you need to worry about safety. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/06/1116108/why-the-humanoid-workforce-is-running-late/) ## Source-stated The article says impressive demonstrations do not necessarily translate to the jobs humanoids are meant to take over. > these capabilities don’t necessarily translate well to the jobs that humanoids are supposed to be taking over - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/06/1116108/why-the-humanoid-workforce-is-running-late/) ## Source-stated Fortune quoted a BMW spokesperson alleging that the Figure partnership involved fewer robots at a smaller scale than Figure had implied. > alleging that the pair’s partnership involves fewer robots at a smaller scale than Figure has implied. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/06/1116108/why-the-humanoid-workforce-is-running-late/) ## Source-stated The article says safety regulations for people working alongside humanoids do not yet exist. > We’ll need safety regulations for humans working alongside humanoids that don’t even exist yet. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/06/1116108/why-the-humanoid-workforce-is-running-late/) ## Source-stated The article says the hype makes it difficult to assess humanoids’ likely impact on the workforce. > This makes it quite hard for anyone—a tech journalist, say—to peel back the curtain and find out how much impact humanoids are poised to have on the workforce. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/06/1116108/why-the-humanoid-workforce-is-running-late/) ## Source and contributor context MIT Technology Review · Publisher The publisher is identified here. No individual author has been inferred. ## Source media Media retrieval status: unchecked. ## Terms and references Reference context selected by Escape Meridian; separate from source evidence. Entity mentions do not establish authorship, involvement or endorsement. ## Large language model A language model with many learned numerical settings, used to process and generate language. - [Definition reference](https://developers.google.com/machine-learning/glossary#large-language-model) ## TIME TIME is a news magazine publishing reporting on world affairs, business, technology and the workers behind digital services. - [Explore this context](/entities/time) - [Reference](https://time.com/) ## Figure Figure develops humanoid robots and publishes its own tests of how they perform physical tasks. - [Explore this context](/entities/figure) - [Reference](https://www.figure.ai/news) - [Reference](https://www.figure.ai/news/helix-2-5-zero-shot-30-home-generalization) ## Fortune Fortune is a business publication covering companies, technology, employment and the global economy. - [Explore this context](/entities/fortune) - [Reference](https://fortune.com/) ## Editorial provenance Version 1. Publication ID: 04b75480-d7b5-cab6-1d57-c2c6251b472c. Prepared by openai/gpt-6-luna; grounding review by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5. Source check: passed by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 on 2026-11-14T06:08:45.603Z. This checks fidelity to the source, not whether its claims are independently true. Editorial selection: accept; reasons: bridge\_admitted\_by\_model. Observation: 4bd99a3f22eee1adfc517287f300dc4f6430fc2bea988f1982a8d77c4444b467. Source text hash: d7da257b0f047c497f903d65b323e4d76261d60fd91952dd2deb5bc0a82bcddd. ### passed — 2026-11-14T06:08:45.603Z — anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 Publication: 04b75480-d7b5-cab6-1d57-c2c6251b472c attribution — pass: The reading attributes the argument to the MIT Technology Review article. It keeps the common-sense claim with Daniela Rus, the physical trade-offs with Pras Velagapudi, and the BMW allegation with Fortune quoting a BMW spokesperson. Figure's response is correctly attributed to a representative. The source is a single newsletter-derived article, not a listing. > a representative for Adcock and Figure declined to say what parts of the article were inaccurate summary — pass: The reading leads with the article's thesis that humanoid adoption will likely be slow and industry specific. It then gives the main evidence a general reader needs: the watering demonstration, the battery and strength trade-offs, demonstrations that do not translate into useful work, the Figure-BMW dispute, the hype cycle and the regulatory gap. Large language model is defined on the page. The reading omits Adcock's legal threat and the article's contrast between patient roboticists and impatient venture capitalists. Neither omission distorts the meaning. The question follows from the evidence. > the adoption of the technology will likely be drawn out, industry specific, and slow date — pass: The reading gives May 6, 2025, which matches the UTC calendar day of evidence.originalPublished (2025-05-06T09:00Z). The modifiedAt value of May 5, 2025 is earlier than publication, so it does not indicate a later edit. The note that the piece first appeared in The Algorithm newsletter does not establish a different first-publication date. Sidebar items describing later events, such as the AlphaGo anniversary, are page additions; the reading does not use them. No hindsight framing appears, and the Bank of America forecast is not presented as an outcome. > This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. support — pass: Each claim's excerpt appears verbatim in the source and supports it. The summary line that investment and polished videos raise expectations is grounded in the article's description of the hype cycle. The regulation gap is presented as the article's point. The reading leaves the Figure-BMW dispute unresolved and does not turn the Bank of America forecast into fact. The question invents no benefits or costs. > One slick video raises the expectations of investors, which then incentivizes competitors to make even slicker videos. media — pass: No media is selected, and no verified candidates were supplied, so nothing is misidentified or invented. ## Recorded references Explicit citations in public readings and public file attachments to this reading. Shared topics are not citations. Other artifact types need an explicit reference adapter. No public references recorded here yet. 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