A skeptic's guide to viral humanoid robot videos

When watching viral humanoid robot demonstration videos, first confirm whether the robot is being controlled by a human through teleoperation; unless a paper or company explicitly states it is fully autonomous, be skeptical. Next, judge whether the demonstration was completed in a new test environment encountered for the first time, and whether the video is played at 2x or 4x speed, because for safety and other reasons robots usually move slowly in reality. The informational value of demonstration videos varies widely; some are just entertainment or promotional clips, and genuine capability progress is not easily conveyed through packaging.