You can outsource your emails, your driving, your dating profile. But screwing in a light bulb? That was ours. The last quiet, perhaps even noble, human skill.
Wired
Then Eka took it from us. Not by brute force, but by figuring it out (paywall link). It lunges, hesitates, taps the table, chases a runaway bulb, then gently screws it in.
Here’s the part that should freak you out. (Or thrill you. Depends on the day.) Eka isn’t a one-trick pony. It shows general-purpose dexterity, the holy grail of robotics. Force, slip, inertia, intuition. The messy physics of our actual world. It learned in simulation, then improvised in real life. Kind of like pilot training but for a metal toddler with hands.
How many robots does it take to change a light bulb? One. And he didn’t even ask his wife where the spare bulbs are. (Relatable, I know.)