An MIT roboticist who cofounded bankrupt Roomba maker iRobot says Elon Musk's vision of humanoid robot assistants is 'pure fantasy thinking'

(Credit: Paul Marotta—Getty Images for TechCrunch)

While investors are busy pouring billions of dollars into humanoid robots, an MIT roboticist who has been making robots for three decades claims they are wasting their money.

Rodney Brooks, the cofounder of Roomba vacuum creator iRobot, said the idea of humanoid robots as catchall assistants, the future Elon Musk envisions, is “pure fantasy thinking,” in part because robots are coordination-challenged.