Humanoid robots have officially arrived... sort of. Companies are wheeling out sleek, expensive prototypes with human-like limbs, while cooing PR departments promise a future where your home is co-managed by a machine that never gets tired or complains about doing the dishes and other chores.
But for now, most of these Android assistants are still glorified puppets, controlled in real-time by human operators. It's called teleoperation, and it's stirring up all sorts of discomfort.
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The robots are here
Neo the robot stands tall while folding the laundry. 1X
Take 1X's Neo, for example. Wrapped in fabric and moving with calculated caution, it looks the part. But the big reveal? There's someone on the other end controlling it.
Critics online -- including popular tech reviewer MKBHD -- were quick to point out that this essentially turns your robot into a rolling surveillance unit with a stranger at the helm, watching your life unfold through a 1080p feed.
And, to be fair, that does sound somewhat unsettling. Nobody loves the idea of letting an anonymous joystick jockey peek into their living room.
But here's the twist: This fear might be misplaced. Because while the setup feels new, it's actually just a digital spin on something we already do.
Why we flinch, and why we might be wrong to
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