Humanoid robot startup was ‘exposed’ for using real people

On June 10, Qualia, a company that develops a humanoid robot training system with headquarters in Copenhagen (Denmark) and an office in Stockholm (Sweden), posted on X a video of a robot with a “standard” design, entering the kitchen to wash dishes and clean the table. The movements are performed smoothly, the steps are natural and the actions are decisive.

“We train models that are capable of physical expression, allowing humanoid robots to perform realistic manual tasks. They operate effectively in the field, not just in demonstration,” the company notes.

However, according to Futurismthe movements are “amazingly vivid”, making many people skeptical, wondering if it is a real robot moving in the physical world, or if the video is a product created by AI, or by a real person playing the role. Faced with a series of questions, Qualia CEO Fabian Kerj admitted that the character in the video is not a robot.

“It’s not a real robot. We build the training infrastructure, not the hardware,” Kerj replied to a comment on X.

“But I got your attention,” Kerj continued to reply to another comment, with a smiley face emoji.

The above action was immediately reacted to. “Isn’t this method misleading and misleading people?”, Reddit account Flewson write. “Maybe partners will have to review the way this company works.”

“A shaky, dishonest business,” the account said Dercatai agree. “They don’t even make robots.”

“I’ll blame Elon Musk for starting this nonsense,” Reddit account iHexx said humorously, mentioning that Tesla used real people to promote Optimus. When the humanoid robot Optimus was first introduced in 2021, the new project was on the drawing board, so it was performed by an actor wearing a simulated suit, and Tesla also made this public.

Qualia’s X account then also apologized to the community: “We haven’t produced hardware yet. But maybe soon.”

In fact, Qualia provides humanoid robot training software solutions, not yet producing hardware devices. The company claims to be a partner of the Robotics Program, implemented by Google DeepMind in Europe. Google has not yet commented.