Rethinking physical interfaces

[alexfinger]

If you think about where robots can be put to use straight away, executing tasks in hazardous environments comes to mind immediately: robots don't need oxygene, they can be designed to work under water or in environments which are very cold or very hot. 

One use case which appeared repeatedly on the World AI Conference 2026 and in our conversations with robotic manufacturers and integrators was the manipulation of electrical cabinets.

A key challenge for the robots is to open and close doors.

This activity is a good example of something which seems natural to us is hard to do programmatically. There are different ways of designing door locks and we master most of them intuitively in the right way. Sometimes, turning the lock requires fine and soft movements and carefully interpreting the sensory feedback of the key in the lock, sometimes doors need a dedicated kick or pull to open. We adapt the way we handle doors very flexibly, in most of the times successfull. 

I'm sure if you lean back and think of the different types of cabinets, entry doors and hatches you are able to open and close as well as the different locks you encountered, there will be a good and diverse list of solutions coming up. Now think of the problems which can occur with each of those. And now try to think about documenting the different cases.  Navigating those different cases and combining solutions you have learned across different door mechanics is a good case to explain the way large language amodels work, because it helps to be able to transfer one solution to another use case if you want to get past a closed door.

Things would be easier, if door handles and locking mechanisms were adapted to robots.  In a hybrid world, however, they would need to work both for humans and robots.

So while we need to invest time and patience into training robots to get past doors and locking mechanisms designed for humans, which are highly adaptable and can react on the many quirks of doors and locks, I'm curious to see how industrial design of doors and locks will be impacted by the rise of humanoids and robots in general!