GeekPark(@GeekParkHQ):Two highlights worth relooking from this talk by @xiaopenghexpeng, CEO of @XPENG_Global: 1/ His team has been building robots for 7 years, and nobody ever wanted to touch or hug one (0:25 in the clip). Steel reads as equipment, maybe dangerous. Skin is what flips it into a companion. Everyone races on torque and joint count, but whether people want the thing near them is a different problem, and his answer starts from skin. 2/ On "why not build the tool into the robot" (1:10): then it can only ever use one tool. Humans already made a million tools, all shaped for human hands. He wants the robot that picks them up. @adcock_brett made the same argument for Figure, one platform amortized across millions of tasks.

2026.07.14 06:57

Two highlights worth relooking from this talk by @xiaopenghexpeng, CEO of @XPENG_Global: 1/ His team has been building robots for 7 years, and nobody ever wanted to touch or hug one (0:25 in the clip). Steel reads as equipment, maybe dangerous. Skin is what flips it into a companion. Everyone races on torque and joint count, but whether people want the thing near them is a different problem, and his answer starts from skin. 2/ On "why not build the tool into the robot" (1:10): then it can only ever use one tool. Humans already made a million tools, all shaped for human hands. He wants the robot that picks them up. @adcock_brett made the same argument for Figure, one platform amortized across millions of tasks.