How Google built its Gemini robotics models • Hacker News Board

Re: How Google built its Gemini robotics models

#11

Post by DoctorDabadedoo » Wed, Apr 02, 2025, 7:20 PM UTC

WXLCKNO wrote: post #7

dachworker wrote: post #2

The "how" is completely missing, but if they can get this to work semi reliably it will be ChatGPT x100 in terms of impact.

I had never heard of Unitree (Chinese robotics company) before today. A lot of their videos look like CGI but apparently the product is real. What stuck with me the most browsing their website on the G1 model was seeing "Price from $16k" Now I'm not sure if these are actually purchasable or what the value would be, but it's my first time seeing an actual normal-ish price attached to a humanoid robot that seems to be…

Take any of these videos with a grain of salt.

In demos these robots only need to do well once and it can take hours to record.

In real life, a failure rate of 80% is unnacceptable, but perfectly fine to edit out in the final cut media.

I hope they do well, this area is incredibly hard, but it will take a lot more than what people imagine.

Re: How Google built its Gemini robotics models

#12

Post by noosphr » Wed, Apr 02, 2025, 7:32 PM UTC

WXLCKNO wrote: post #7

dachworker wrote: post #2

The "how" is completely missing, but if they can get this to work semi reliably it will be ChatGPT x100 in terms of impact.

I had never heard of Unitree (Chinese robotics company) before today. A lot of their videos look like CGI but apparently the product is real. What stuck with me the most browsing their website on the G1 model was seeing "Price from $16k" Now I'm not sure if these are actually purchasable or what the value would be, but it's my first time seeing an actual normal-ish price attached to a humanoid robot that seems to be…

>A lot of their videos look like CGI but apparently the product is real.

I bought their robot dog as part of a project to build embodied AI models back in 2022.

Their SDK was far more open than anything else on the market and the stock firmware was on par with competitors, this includes products that were x10 the price.

The robot itself scared dogs in the park, but kids loved it. At $3k it's on par with a mid range drone and quite fun to hack on.

Re: How Google built its Gemini robotics models

#13

Post by harmmonica » Wed, Apr 02, 2025, 7:38 PM UTC

Even if Google's robotics technology (software and hardware) is leading edge does anyone think they'll actually be able to productize it? Seems similar to how they were the pre-product leaders in transformers and then fumbled any advantage they had to ChatGPT. It seems like something's missing from Google where they can't get from research to product effectively. Waymo perhaps a good counterexample if you think where they are today is product/market fit, but I can't shake the feeling that Google more often than not can't seem to get things to market or even if they do they give up on them before they take hold.

Just wondering if anyone has a strong feeling or, better yet, insight on this regarding their robotics efforts.

Re: How Google built its Gemini robotics models

#14

Post by MPSFounder » Wed, Apr 02, 2025, 7:45 PM UTC

harmmonica wrote: post #13

Even if Google's robotics technology (software and hardware) is leading edge does anyone think they'll actually be able to productize it? Seems similar to how they were the pre-product leaders in transformers and then fumbled any advantage they had to ChatGPT. It seems like something's missing from Google where they can't get from research to product effectively. Waymo perhaps a good counterexample if you think where…

I agree. The current leadership of Google (especially Sundar) is mediocre and comes from a consulting background. They will fail at making a tangible product out of this, similar to glass or Inbox or a multitude of other examples. This is particularly sad, as I know a few remarkable engineers at Google that share this frustration. However, Google's leadership folded to Indian managers and is now run as a circus

Re: How Google built its Gemini robotics models

#15

Post by anon84873628 » Wed, Apr 02, 2025, 7:46 PM UTC

LeoPanthera wrote: post #5

cozyman wrote: post #3

just curious, what would it do if you asked it to kill someone? does it follow the laws of robotics?

Asimov's laws of robotics would not, and cannot, work in real life because terms like "harm," "human being," and "inaction" are highly subjective and context-dependent. There are entire novels about how the interaction between the hierarchical laws have unexpected outcomes. They're a narrative device. Not practical instructions.

Put another way, impossible to program if you wanted to. These are highly abstract concepts that only manifest at the highest level of cognition. The governance module would need to be programmed at that same level using those tokens, but that doesn't seem to be how things are shaping up to work. Instead we start with low level programming that learns and builds up concepts on top.

Essentially you would need some sort of independent adversarial sidecar mind that monitors the robot's actions at a high level. And that just kicks the can down the road a bit.

Re: How Google built its Gemini robotics models

#16

Post by MPSFounder » Wed, Apr 02, 2025, 7:47 PM UTC

dachworker wrote: post #2

The "how" is completely missing, but if they can get this to work semi reliably it will be ChatGPT x100 in terms of impact.

I am hoping they keep lots of their work open source. This is especially the case since hardware would be too expensive for competition to pull off, but it would be interesting to see how they circumvented some problems

Re: How Google built its Gemini robotics models

#17

Post by ecesena » Wed, Apr 02, 2025, 7:54 PM UTC

WXLCKNO wrote: post #7

dachworker wrote: post #2

The "how" is completely missing, but if they can get this to work semi reliably it will be ChatGPT x100 in terms of impact.

I had never heard of Unitree (Chinese robotics company) before today. A lot of their videos look like CGI but apparently the product is real. What stuck with me the most browsing their website on the G1 model was seeing "Price from $16k" Now I'm not sure if these are actually purchasable or what the value would be, but it's my first time seeing an actual normal-ish price attached to a humanoid robot that seems to be…

The humanoid is $20k-ish without hands. Each hand currently costs another $20k (and not sure if these are available to everyone or only for research).

Re: How Google built its Gemini robotics models

#18

Post by seatac76 » Wed, Apr 02, 2025, 7:55 PM UTC

harmmonica wrote: post #13

Even if Google's robotics technology (software and hardware) is leading edge does anyone think they'll actually be able to productize it? Seems similar to how they were the pre-product leaders in transformers and then fumbled any advantage they had to ChatGPT. It seems like something's missing from Google where they can't get from research to product effectively. Waymo perhaps a good counterexample if you think where…

I think the cautious faction of AI debate won temporarily inside Google, letting OpenAI take the lead. Lessons should be learnt from that experience. I do think Google will come out ahead in the end Gemini and Gemma are great models.

Let’s see what Google I/O shows of this year, product application matters now that they have caught up on the tech side.

Re: How Google built its Gemini robotics models

#19

Post by zeroq » Wed, Apr 02, 2025, 8:02 PM UTC

harmmonica wrote: post #13

Even if Google's robotics technology (software and hardware) is leading edge does anyone think they'll actually be able to productize it? Seems similar to how they were the pre-product leaders in transformers and then fumbled any advantage they had to ChatGPT. It seems like something's missing from Google where they can't get from research to product effectively. Waymo perhaps a good counterexample if you think where…

In my bubble it's general consensus that Google - as we knew it - is done.

Sergiej and Larry phased out and what is left is more of less a headless chicken, too big too fall, but without any clear direction and goal.

Re: How Google built its Gemini robotics models

#20

Post by jeffbee » Wed, Apr 02, 2025, 8:08 PM UTC

zeroq wrote: post #19

harmmonica wrote: post #13

Even if Google's robotics technology (software and hardware) is leading edge does anyone think they'll actually be able to productize it? Seems similar to how they were the pre-product leaders in transformers and then fumbled any advantage they had to ChatGPT. It seems like something's missing from Google where they can't get from research to product effectively. Waymo perhaps a good counterexample if you think where…

In my bubble it's general consensus that Google - as we knew it - is done. Sergiej and Larry phased out and what is left is more of less a headless chicken, too big too fall, but without any clear direction and goal.

At least you are aware that this is a bubble.