In 2025, the Jetsons fantasy of a robot butler stopped feeling like retro-sci fi kitsch and started looking—if you squint through a teleoperator’s VR headset—almost plausible.

1X’s Neo household robot successfully loaded a dishwasher (at an excruciating pace); Chinese robots raced alongside humans in a half marathon; at August’s inaugural World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, more than 500 humanoids competed in hotel room cleaning and obstacle course navigation; and Tesla’s Optimus robot fell over — and went viral.

Meanwhile, investors poured $4.6 billion into the humanoid robotics industry—nearly three times the amount invested in 2024, according to PitchBook.

Humanoid software company Physical Intelligence raised $600 million at a $5.6 billion valuation in November. 1X is seeking to raise $1 billion at a $10 billion valuation, while Skild AI is in talks to raise over $1 billion at a $14 billion valuation. Humanoid developer Figure has raised more than $1 billion at a $39 billion valuation, placing it among the 20 most valuable startups in the world.

When Elon Musk says Optimus will “actually eliminate poverty,” at least some investors appear to believe him. That enthusiasm, however, is far from universal within the robotics community.

Rodney Brooks, a robotics pioneer who co-founded iRobot, maker of the Roomba, argues that many of the industry’s flashy demos are more illusion than breakthrough—designed to mislead investors and the public.

“I call the videos ‘humanoid theater,’” Brooks said. “These humanoids can’t do anything remotely at the level you’d need for them to be worthwhile. It’s a classic bubble.”

Brooks,........

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