Robots need to be useful and need to be out in the world doing a variety of stuff to get better. They can't just learn in labs. In the end the two things that stick out are
- a robot is a tool. It has to actually do a job, and if youre not trying to use it for that job it probably doesnt work
- along the same lines, what you see is what you get -- when you see a demo you have to remember its the absolute best the robot has ever done, and if you didnt see it do something, you must assume it cant do that thing