Neighborhood PR Bots
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The PR campaign for the Unitree GI Robot now comes in at least three local variants: the "Uncle Bot" in China, "Jake the Rizzbot" in Austin, and a gay version of Jake in Los Angeles.
As far as I can tell, Uncle Bot doesn't talk, but Jake does, sometimes with compliments and sometimes not, but in both cases displaying accurate perception of the person addressed.
No doubt these interactions are managed by a human teleoperator, just as the robotic bartenders at Musk's Robotaxi party were. But Uncle Bot and Jake are not limited to an invitation-only party, and Gay Jake advertises this with the "NOT ELON'S BITCH" sign on his chest.
Rizzbot is making a splash in the news and in various social media, so props to the Unitree PR team. Maybe interactive advertising is an actual application for teleoperated humanoid robots? Will we see Jake passing out Coca Cola samples, or spreading the word about an upcoming concert, or promoting a movie?
If so, it's one of the first examples out there of an actual use for humanoid robots — see Brad Porter, "The Problems With Humanoid Robots" for some relevant background.
Chris Buckey said,
July 24, 2025 @ 12:46 am
What are these things even supposed to be for? Why spend $16k on one of these things?
Mark Liberman said,
July 24, 2025 @ 11:15 am
@Chris Buckey: "What are these things even supposed to be for? Why spend $16k on one of these things?"
For fun?
Seriously, it's a good question — my suggestion above is that (remote-operator managed versions of) these robots could be used to promote movies, concerts, etc., by having their interactions go viral on tiktok or X or whatever.
Yves Rehbein said,
July 25, 2025 @ 6:29 am
Is this "silly news"?