Researchers say that humanoid robots have an extended option to go earlier than they’re formally prepared for work.
A humanoid robotic prepares a wholesome meal throughout the 2026 World AI Convention and Excessive-Stage Assembly on International AI Governance on July 17, 2026, in Shanghai, China. Quite a few firms throughout the U.S. have already began rolling out humanoid robots.
(Tang Yanjun/China Information Service/VCG through Getty Photographs)
Robots have already joined California’s workforce. Disembodied arms put together espresso for vacationers on the San Francisco Worldwide Airport and Stonestown Mall. Driverless autos chauffeur employees and vacationers. Coolers on wheels roll and ship meals in San José.
Although state legislation regulates autonomous autos, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors adopted a decision on Tuesday that would make it the primary to require firms to pay for permits earlier than humanoid robots enter the office.
The decision, authored by Supervisor Ray Mueller, would direct county authorized and administrative workers to draft a proper ordinance regulating the robots more and more displaying up in hospitality, logistics, customer support and emergency companies.
California doesn’t presently have a “complete regulatory framework governing the industrial deployment and operation of humanoid robots,” the decision states, and establishing this framework prematurely will enable San Mateo to “encourage the accountable integration of rising applied sciences.”
Mueller mentioned he meant the decision to determine a allowing course of that would observe the rollout of those robots and that the allowing information might assist the county consider potential dangers, like job displacement, fires and different questions of safety.
“Knowledge like that’s like gold to public companies,” Mueller mentioned.
A number of firms throughout the nation have already began rolling out humanoid robots as pilots. In San Francisco, residents rent humanoid robots from Tau Robotics to scrub their residence or workplace for $30 an hour, however the cleansing is supervised by distant human operators based on the corporate web site.
Ken Goldberg, a robotics professor at UC Berkeley, mentioned that whereas it’s not a foul thought to start out fascinated by laws, the humanoid workforce remains to be a great distance off from being genuinely helpful.
Goldberg mentioned that whereas individuals have been anticipating humanoid robots because the ’60s, engineers are nonetheless a minimum of 10 years away — if no more — from creating robots that may do sensible duties.
At Tuesday’s board of supervisors assembly, firefighters’ union spokesperson Richard Seguine mentioned that including humanoid robots to properties and workplaces might contribute to an uptick in these fires within the county. Seguine mentioned that these fires burn hotter and launch extra toxins than a typical fireplace and require specialised tools to handle successfully.
Mueller emphasised that the laws is just not meant to ban the know-how and even put guardrails on it.
“Because the know-how is applied, we have to be sure that public companies are capable of correctly adapt,” Mueller mentioned.
