Jeff Bernstein, president of the Association for Advancing Automation, talks with NEXT host John Koetsier about humanoids in manufacturing and warehouses, workplace safety, automation and jobs, U.S. robotics strategy, and home robots.
Bernstein says customers care most about reliable, proven, affordable solutions, not whether a robot looks human. He expects humanoids could reach scale in factories or warehouses within a decade, but sees little evidence yet about their use cases, reliability, or cost. He also points to advances in robotic hands, including Psionic’s hand, which can serve as a bionic prosthesis as well as a robot component.
Bernstein says the field is still deep in the hype cycle, with pilots and limited production rather than broad deployment. He cites an Agility Robotics robot working at a GXO Logistics plant as the only U.S. humanoid production example he knows of, and says some pilots are only 20% to 50% effective. He identifies safety as the biggest concern and says robots are kept away from people in that deployment.
Bernstein argues that automation can help companies stay competitive and win business, which can support hiring. He says the U.S. has nearly 500,000 unfilled manufacturing jobs, with forecasts of 1.9 million by 2033, and expects automation to shift work toward overseeing, installing, operating, and maintaining robots. Koetsier adds that lower labor costs could also make more work feasible in areas such as infrastructure and customer service.
Bernstein frames robotics as an issue of national capability: countries need to make essential products and compete on cost and quality. He says Japan and China pursued national robotics strategies, while the U.S. robotics industry declined after government officials did not act on early warnings. He says the U.S. has another opportunity across humanoids, mobile robots, and collaborative robots, and notes proposed legislation for a National Robotics Commission.
Bernstein is skeptical that humanoids will become common in homes, citing the Roomba as the only broadly successful home robot over the past 30 years. He recalls Joe Engelberger predicting demand for an expensive all-purpose home robot, while Roomba founder Colin Angle favored an effective, affordable single-purpose device. Bernstein questions whether one costly humanoid can justify its price when specialized robots could handle individual tasks.
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