Can robots miss other robots? Humanoids and language models in Denmark

This is an episode of the podcast from Ingeniøren's "Teknisk set" series, edited by Henrik Heide and published on 7 November. It asks, half in jest, whether robots can miss other robots, and it looks at humanoid robots and the language models that govern their behaviour in Denmark.

One example is the Unitree G135 humanoid, which can be bought online from 160,000 kroner for the cheapest, most stripped-down version. To be useful, the robot also needs a language model so it can learn how to behave. The episode's illustration shows one standing and watching other humanoids at this year's Digital Tech Summit.

The episode also features TI1H, a humanoid robot owned by Søren Peter Johansen, who is Technology Manager at Danmarks Teknologiske. The robot accompanies him at work. When he shows it off and pushes it to demonstrate its balance, people come up to him and say they feel sorry for it. The reaction shows how readily people attach feelings to humanoid machines.