Robots for the Future Industry: How Humanoids Are Being Trained
The robotics industry is leveling up by recruiting employees in sensor suits to teach algorithms intimate movements. Viral footage that stirred the web demonstrates the development of the next generation of companion robots.
For decades, we were promised that the robots of the future would clean the house, solve the climate crisis, or at least bring us a glass of water. However, as always in the history of technology — from video tapes and secure internet payments to virtual reality — the industry very quickly found where the big and truly creative money is.
A video uploaded to the networks by web researcher Mario Nawfal (from RT network footage), which stirred social media, shows employees dressed in full motion capture suits demonstrating intimate poses on mattresses.
The goal? To feed highly accurate motion data into the algorithms that operate humanoid robots.
Behind the experiment is the company Somnia Robotics (operating under Somnia Lab), a firm that develops companion and intimacy robots. Its first product, a humanoid robot named "Gui Ji" (also branded as Model L / Love Machine), promises no less than 165 different interaction poses and is expected to enter mass production in 2027.
Why are sensor suits needed for this?
Converting human movement to a robot is a much more complex task than just "copying" a video. The joints, motors, and balance of a robot are completely different from human physiology. In situations of close contact between two bodies — where balance, load transfer, and real-time mutual response are required — the engineering challenge is multiplied.
The central problem today in the robotics industry is a severe shortage of real-world data. While industrial robots learn to perform repetitive actions in a factory, personal robots are required to have soft, natural, and responsive movements. To achieve this, companies must collect hours of smooth human samples.
The viral video triggered a wave of amused reactions on social media. Commenters on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram had a field day with the strange footage, with one user summarizing the new technological trend and Chinese dominance in the field with the punchy sentence: "In the end, the Chinese will f*** us all."
