humanoid robots – Impact Lab

future predictions, future report, future scenario, future tech, Robots

The $50 Doctor Visit: How Robo-Doctors Will Destroy Insurance

November 4, 2025

By Futurist Thomas Frey

Dr. Sarah Austin opened her new practice in suburban Phoenix last month with an unusual setup: one human doctor (herself), eight humanoid robo-doctors, and a radical business model that’s about to upend American healthcare.

No insurance accepted. $50 per visit. Cash, credit, or digital payment. That’s it.

Here’s how it works: Patients are greeted by one of eight robo-doctors—humanoid robots with advanced diagnostic AI, medical knowledge databases updated daily, and the ability to conduct physical examinations. The robo-doctor spends 30-45 minutes with each patient—far longer than the 7-minute average at traditional practices—taking comprehensive medical histories, conducting thorough physical exams, and analyzing symptoms with superhuman diagnostic accuracy.

future predictions, future report, future scenario, future tech, Robotics, Robots

How Many Robots Will You Own? A Timeline of the Automated Home

October 31, 2025

By Futurist Thomas Frey

I’ve been playing a mental game lately: walking through my daily routine and asking “could a robot do this?” Not “should” a robot do it, but could it—technically, economically, practically. The list grows longer every time I play.

Making coffee. Folding laundry. Mowing the lawn. Cleaning gutters. Walking the dog. Sorting mail. Watering plants. Taking out trash. The tasks I’d happily delegate to machines vastly outnumber the tasks I actually enjoy doing myself.

Which raises a fascinating question: how many robots will the average household actually own? Not in some distant sci-fi future, but in 2030, 2035, and 2040—time horizons close enough that we can make educated predictions based on technology that already exists or is clearly emerging.

The answer, I suspect, will surprise you. And it varies dramatically based on whether you’re suburban or rural, have kids or don’t, own your home or rent. Let’s break it down.

AI, future predictions, future report, future scenario, future tech, Robotics, Robots

Inside the Robot Store of 2035: Shopping for Intelligence

October 28, 2025

By Futurist Thomas Frey

Walk into a robot store fifteen years from now, and you’ll face a bewildering choice: the left side of the showroom displays sleek humanoid robots standing at attention like a row of butlers awaiting employment. The right side showcases an array of specialized machines—some with multiple arms, others on wheels or tracks, a few that look more like articulated snakes than anything human.

But the real decision isn’t about form factor. It’s about intelligence. And that’s where the price tags get interesting.

future predictions, future report, future scenario, future tech, Robotics, Robots

The First Jobs We’ll Ask Our In-House Robots To Do

October 27, 2025

By Futurist Thomas Frey

When Boston Dynamics’ Atlas does backflips or Tesla unveils its latest Optimus prototype, we imagine a future where humanoid robots seamlessly handle every household task—cooking gourmet meals, organizing closets with Martha Stewart precision, and somehow folding fitted sheets correctly. But that’s not how technology adoption works, and it’s certainly not how the robotics revolution will unfold in our homes.

The first humanoid robots we invite into our living spaces won’t be good at everything. They’ll be awkward, limited, and occasionally frustrating. They’ll drop things, misjudge distances, and require patient re-teaching. And that’s okay—because if we’re strategic about which tasks we delegate first, these early homebots could still transform daily life in profound ways.