Recently, there have been a lot of impressive demos of AI agents, like Claude, controlling robots. I wrote a short blog post with my thoughts on the advent of these "robot-use agents." web.mit.edu/phillipi/www... I think it's an important change in the trajectory of robotics!
- Phillip Isola argues newer LLMs like Fable and Astra are eroding the case that models can't yet drive robots in general.
- In his cloud-puppeteer model, any internet-connected robot could gain AI capability via a software update, with no new hardware.
- Isola concedes LLM-controlled robots remain far less performant than dedicated solutions, with latency and reliability still limiting safety-critical use.