Chinese robot maker Dobot’s humanoid cooks steak from 1,800km away using VR

A humanoid robot from the Chinese firm Shenzhen Dobot successfully cooked a steak – even sprinkling salt with its fingers – while being remotely controlled by an operator 1,800km away using a virtual reality (VR) headset.

A video of the feat, published on Friday on the company’s official WeChat account, showcased its latest technology – which could eventually disrupt how humans perform housework, conduct surgeries, inspect nuclear plants and even explore outer space.

The cooking was performed by Dobot Atom, the company’s first humanoid robot, which was launched in March. While the robot was in Shandong province, it was remotely controlled from Guangdong province – 1,800km away.

The video showed the robot replicating the engineer’s movements as he wore a VR headset to capture his hand gestures while monitoring the counter in front of the robot.

The four-minute clip showed the robot complete some delicate tasks, including dabbing the steak with a paper towel, pouring oil, flipping the meat and even sprinkling salt over the dish.