# When will humanoid robots be useful?

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/q/when-will-humanoid-robots-be-useful/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

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Question

Of the 5 moments we cut that answer this, 4 say factories first, homes later and one says within a few years. Josh Gao said on Training Data (Oct 20, 2026) that constrained commercial tasks become useful before robots reach general-purpose capability, as in-domain data closes reliability gaps. Roman Yampolskiy said on The Diary Of A CEO (Sep 4, 2025) that humanoid robots could handle physical work by 2030.

## Where they stand

- Within a few years 1
  - Roman Yampolskiy
- Factories first, homes later 4
  - Josh Gao ×2
  - Brett Adcock ×2

## Factories first, homes later 4

1. Training Data · Oct 20, 2026 · 3 min
   **[Robotics can unlock commercial tasks before reaching generality](https://realalpha.app/s/robotics-can-unlock-commercial-tasks-before-reaching/)**
   > “So relatively, we're still many orders of magnitudes away from where we have to be, ultimately.”
   [Josh Gao](https://realalpha.app/builders/josh-gao/) Founder & CEO, Mecka AI [20:00](https://realalpha.app/v/0idrTKCDhuE/?t=1200)
2. Training Data · Oct 20, 2026 · 3 min
   **[Constrained jobs will come before household robots](https://realalpha.app/s/constrained-jobs-will-come-before-household-robots/)**
   > “Laundry folding, we spent about a year and a half plus trying to solve. And I think it will absolutely get solved in your term.”
   [Josh Gao](https://realalpha.app/builders/josh-gao/) Founder & CEO, Mecka AI [22:59](https://realalpha.app/v/0idrTKCDhuE/?t=1379)
3. The Shawn Ryan Show · Mar 30, 2026 · 4 min
   **[Figure replaced brittle robot code with neural networks](https://realalpha.app/s/figure-replaced-brittle-robot-code-with-neural-networks/)**
   > “the robot that started the first day at the start of six months and the robot that ended the shift that day was the same”
   [Brett Adcock](https://realalpha.app/builders/brett-adcock/) Founder & CEO, Figure [1:12:38](https://realalpha.app/v/99pOdGEGu6s/?t=4358)
4. The Shawn Ryan Show · Mar 30, 2026 · 5 min
   **[Factories offer a simpler first market than homes](https://realalpha.app/s/factories-offer-a-simpler-first-market-than-homes/)**
   > “can you put a robot into your home today and do the five hours of work you need without ever seeing your home before.”
   [Brett Adcock](https://realalpha.app/builders/brett-adcock/) Founder & CEO, Figure [1:27:12](https://realalpha.app/v/99pOdGEGu6s/?t=5232)

## Within a few years 1

1. The Diary Of A CEO · Sep 4, 2025 · 4 min
   **[Humanoid robots could automate physical work by 2030](https://realalpha.app/s/humanoid-robots-could-automate-physical-work-by-2030/)**
   > “our world will look remarkably different when humanoid robots are functional and effective”
   [Roman Yampolskiy](https://realalpha.app/people/roman-yampolskiy/) Associate professor & director of Cyber Security Lab, University of Louisville [23:00](https://realalpha.app/v/UclrVWafRAI/?t=1380)

Each moment is a few minutes of a long interview, cut by Real Alpha and filed under how it answers by a model that read its claim and quote. Open a moment for its full transcript. Last moment added Oct 24, 2026.