SILICON VALLEY INVESTORS ARE STARTING TO PUSH BACK ON THE IDEA THAT ROBOTS NEED TO LOOK HUMAN Per Business Insider, some are arguing the humanoid-first thesis has it backwards, and that robot design should start with the job it needs to do rather than the human body, which is exactly the split our partner @JarsyInc laid out this week: humanoid vs task-first. The companies are already sorting into camps. Agility's Digit and Figure AI are going humanoid for warehouse and logistics work. Genesis AI's Eno and Sunday's Memo are task-first wheeled robots, one for manufacturers and labs, one for clearing tables and loading dishwashers at home. Apptronik sits in between: CEO Jeff Cardenas told BI he sees the biggest long-term upside in legged humanoids, but the wheeled version of its Apollo robot could deploy sooner because it poses fewer safety challenges. That is the whole debate in one line. Humanoids may offer broader flexibility long-term, but task-first designs may reach real commercial deployment first.