By MATT O’BRIEN

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — Robots have long been seen as a bad bet for Silicon Valley investors — too complicated, capital-intensive and “boring, honestly,” says venture capitalist Modar Alaoui.

But the commercial boom in artificial intelligence has lit a spark under long-simmering visions to build humanoid robots that can move their mechanical bodies like humans and do things that people do.

Alaoui, founder of the Humanoids Summit, gathered more than 2,000 people this week, including top robotics engineers from Disney, Google and dozens of startups, to showcase their technology and debate what it will take to accelerate a nascent industry.

Alaoui says many researchers now believe humanoids or some other kind of physical embodiment of AI are “going to become the norm.”

“The question is really just how long it will take,” he said.

Disney’s contribution to the field, a walking robotic version of “Frozen” character Olaf, will be roaming on its own through Disneyland theme parks in Hong Kong and Paris early next year. Entertaining and highly complex robots that resemble a human — or a snowman — are already here, but the timeline for “general purpose” robots that are a productive member of a workplace or household is farther away.

Even at a conference designed to build enthusiasm for the technology, held at a Computer History Museum that’s a temple to Silicon Valley’s previous breakthroughs, skepticism remained high that truly humanlike robots will take root anytime soon.

“The humanoid space has a very, very big hill to climb,” said Cosima du Pasquier, founder and CEO of Haptica Robotics, which works to give robots a sense of touch. “There’s a lot of research that still needs to be solved.”

The Stanford University postdoctoral researcher came to the conference in Mountain View, California, just a week after incorporating her startup.

“The first customers are really the people here,” she said.

Researchers at the consultancy McKinsey & Company have counted about 50 companies around the world that have raised at least $100 million to develop humanoids, led by about 20 in China and 15 in North America.

China is leading in part due to government incentives for component production and robot adoption and a mandate last year “to have a humanoid ecosystem established by 2025,” said McKinsey partner Ani Kelkar. Displays by Chinse firms dominated the expo section of this week’s summit, held Thursday and Friday. The conference’s most prevalent humanoids were those made by China’s Unitree, in part because researchers in the U.S. buy the relatively cheap model to test their own software.

In the U.S., the advent of generative AI chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini has jolted the decades-old robotics industry in different ways. Investor excitement has poured money into ambitious startups aiming to build hardware that will bring a physical presence to the latest AI.

But it’s not just crossover hype — the same technical advances that made AI chatbots so good at language have played a role in teaching robots how to get better at performing tasks. Paired with computer vision, robots powered by “visual-language” models are trained to learn about their surroundings.

One of the most prominent skeptics is robotics pioneer Rodney Brooks, a co-founder of Roomba vacuum maker iRobot who wrote in September that “today’s humanoid robots will not learn how to be dexterous despite the hundreds of millions, or perhaps many billions of dollars, being donated by VCs and major tech companies to pay for their training.” Brooks didn’t attend but his essay was frequently mentioned.

Also missing was anyone speaking for Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s development of a humanoid called Optimus, a project that the billionaire is designing to be “extremely capable” and sold in high volumes. Musk said three years ago that people can probably buy an Optimus “within three to five years.”

The conference’s organizer, Alaoui, founder and general partner of ALM Ventures, previously worked on driver attention systems for the automotive industry and sees parallels between humanoids and the early years of self-driving cars.

Near the entrance to the summit venue, just blocks from Google’s headquarters, is a museum exhibit showing Google’s bubble-shaped 2014 prototype of a self-driving car. Eleven years later, robotaxis operated by Google affiliate Waymo are constantly plying the streets nearby.

Some robots with human elements are already being tested in workplaces. Oregon-based Agility Robotics announced shortly before the conference that it is bringing its tote-carrying warehouse robot Digit to a Texas distribution facility run by Mercado Libre, the Latin American e-commerce giant. Much like the Olaf robot, it has inverted legs that are more birdlike than human.

Industrial robots performing single tasks are already commonplace in car assembly and other manufacturing. They work with a level of speed and precision that’s difficult for today’s humanoids — or humans themselves — to match.

The head of a robotics trade group founded in 1974 is now lobbying the U.S. government to develop a stronger national strategy to advance the development of homegrown robots, be they humanoids or otherwise.

“We have a lot of strong technology, we have the AI expertise here in the U.S.,” said Jeff Burnstein, president of the Association for Advancing Automation, after touring the expo. “So I think it remains to be seen who is the ultimate leader in this. But right now, China has certainly a lot more momentum on humanoids.”

Associated Press journalist Terry Chea contributed to this report.

A Mahtomedi woman was struck and killed by a vehicle on Monday night as she was walking along Interstate 94 near Black River Falls, Wis., authorities said.

Kara Ann Meslow, 30, was struck around 5:50 p.m. Monday, according to the Wisconsin State Patrol.

Authorities did not give details about why Meslow was walking along the highway. She was pronounced deceased at the scene.

The crash remains under investigation, authorities said Friday.

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Already beset by five key injuries, the Minnesota Wild may see a change on the blue line when they face the Senators on Saturday afternoon.

On Friday morning, the Wild recalled defenseman David Jiricek from Iowa of the American Hockey League as an insurance policy in case veteran Jonas Brodin is unable to play against Ottawa.

Brodin appeared to be injured in Thursday’s 5-2 home win versus Dallas, although he made it to the end of the game. Wild coach John Hynes, speaking during the team’s optional practice at TRIA Rink on Friday afternoon, confirmed that Brodin is questionable for Saturday.

“He did come back and finish, but we need the insurance with (Brodin) being questionable and the back-to-back,” Hynes said. The Wild are in the midst of a stretch of three games in four days.

Jiricek, who was acquired in a trade with Columbus last season, has played a dozen games with the Wild this season and 10 more in Iowa. Hynes said the AHL team’s coaches report some progress in Jiricek’s game after his decision-making was called out by the coach in training camp and preseason.

“He’s coming along. The big thing with David is he’s got to play more than he has the last few years,” Hynes said. “Just the intricacies of the game, for a defenseman to get more and more comfortable. He’s gone down (to Iowa) with a very good attitude. He’s played well.”

After missing the opening game of the season following a summer surgery, Brodin has played in 30 consecutive games with three goals and nine assists.

Hynes noted that forward Marco Rossi had another full practice with the team on Friday and is now considered day-to-day in his recovery from the injury that has kept the top-line center off the ice for the past month. While Rossi will not play Saturday versus Ottawa, Hynes said he is a possible lineup addition when Minnesota hosts Boston on Sunday.

Memories of Matthews

Wild general manager Bill Guerin is originally from Boston and feels welcome nearly everywhere he goes in his old hometown. But Matthews Arena was a clear exception to that rule.

Opened in 1910, Matthews was the oldest ice arena in the world still in use, at least until this month. Northeastern University is closing the doors on the historic facility, with plans for demolition and the construction of a more modern arena on the site.

“They were always such a gritty team to play against, and the building was just so tight. People were right on top of you,” Guerin recalled from his days of being the visiting team there when he skated for crosstown rival Boston College. “Just a classic, great building. It will be missed, for sure.”

A fan watches a basketball game between Northeastern University and Vermont at Northeastern’s Matthews Arena, Nov. 24, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Jimmy Golen)

With an original capacity of 5,000, Matthews was the home arena for the Boston Bruins from 1924 until the much larger and more modern Boston Garden opened in 1928. The NBA’s Boston Celtics also played games there before a permanent move to Boston Garden in 1955.

Matthews, originally named Boston Arena, became the full time home of Northeastern hockey in 1946, but the town’s other three colleges — Boston College, Boston University and Harvard — all played home games there at various times before their current arenas were built.

The new modern arena to be built on the site will have seating for a little over 4,000 and is planned to open in September 2028.

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Mike McElroy described it as “one of the most emotionally-charged five minutes of my life.”

Bethel led Susquehanna by four in the final minute of the NCAA Division-III quarterfinal in Pennsylvania last December when Susquehanna lined up for a 4th and goal attempt from the 1 yard line.

A stop would send the Royals to the semifinals. Josh Ehrlich ran the ball and was stood up at the goalline. Was he in? If so, it was by the smallest of margins. But the official deemed Ehrlich did enough to cross the plane and put Susquehanna in front with 40 seconds to play.

Bethel quarterback Cooper Drews preps to take a snap during the Royals’ 55-9 victory over Concordia-Moorhead in Moorhead on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (Bennett Moger / Bethel University)

That left Bethel firmly on the ropes. But three Cooper Drews completions in short order on the Royals’ final possession put Bethel on the opposing 31 yard line.

The Royals had a shot. McElroy recalled the chatter on the headset: Joey Kidder was getting 1 on 1 coverage on the outside. Bethel decided to go his direction.

Drews found Kidder in the end zone near the front pylon to rally the Royals to a miraculous victory.

“Holy smokes, we did it,” McElroy thought to himself.

Not so fast.

“Oh my goodness, there’s a flag,” he realized.

Bethel was called for holding. The touchdown was negated. Royals players who rushed the field in celebration were escorted off. Initially, officials ruled the game was over. Eventually, after a lengthy discussion the Royals were given one final down. It was unsuccessful.

Bethel went from appearing to have clinched a national semifinal bid in one moment to eliminated the next.

“Obviously, ended up being on the wrong side of that whole deal. Super unfortunate,” Drews said. “I think it was really sad for our guys, because that’s how we end our season? That’s how we go out? … It definitely stings. After that, I was kind of in disbelief for a little bit.”

A year later, here the fourth-ranked Royals (12-0) are again – back in the quarterfinals, this time as an undefeated team with a date with top-ranked North Central (12-0) at noon Saturday in Naperville, Illinois on deck.

“Being back in the elite eight, same round last year as that whole situation, it definitely brings that stuff back up,” Drews said.

But did it ever really go away? Perhaps the pain does. The lessons don’t.

Drews recalled the best thing the coaches said to the players in the aftermath. The holding call would be the play they remembered. But there were many other players that could’ve been made to avoid that situation altogether.

The challenge moving forward was deciphering how the Royals could reach a point where it wouldn’t come down to an official’s single decision? As a quarterback, Drews feels he’s developed an understanding of the moments that win or lose games, and when they’re in the balance.

“We had chances to take that game and put it out of reach (last year),” he said, “and we just didn’t do that.”

Drews is a better player for it. The same is true for the entire program. That was the message in the immediate aftermath of last year’s heartbreak.

“I said it to our guys afterwards, we talk all the time about how tough stuff grows us, and now we get to actually practice it,” McElroy said. “So I think it’s been fun for our guys of, ‘Alright, we talk about this stuff, now are we going to do it?’ I think it grew us as a program of, ‘Yeah, that was hard, and life is not fair.’”

But no one cares. No one feels sorry for you. Folks building you up while you’re receiving accolades may not be found when the results don’t go your way.

It’s why while Bethel’s program is centered on joy, it’s not joy derived from results. If your circumstances affect your mood, McElroy noted the team will be “fragile.”

“Joy is not dictated by my circumstances or playing time or how many catches I had. It’s got to be deeper than that. Otherwise you will ride the rollercoaster and you will be pretty fragile,” he said. “Just really proud of our guys who’ve really embraced this idea that we’re going to choose to be joyful guys who are rooted in something deeper than our stats and our outcomes. Yeah, we want to be really good and we want to compete at a high level.

“But, man, if you let the scoreboard tell you how you feel, you’re not going to last very long in this profession or as an athlete.”

Tough things happen. McElroy noted that’s true in all phases of life. It only gets harder as people become husbands and fathers.

“How do you respond when you kind of get punched in the face?” he asked.

The way his team responded: Like champions.

Bethel’s defense was entirely reshuffled last offseason via graduation and the transfer of star safety Matt Jung to Wisconsin. The standout receiving core largely graduated. At the season’s outset, McElroy said the Royals roster featured six guys who started more than two games the year prior.

“I remember the first lift we had in the offseason period, and it was like, ‘Gosh, this is weird. Where is everyone?’” Drews said. “All these different faces and younger guys, I was like, ‘Gosh, we are young.’”

But they didn’t mean the Royals wouldn’t be good. As McElroy often tells his players: “We don’t rebuild, we reload.” But less from talent acquisition than talent development. McElroy defined cultivation as taking “something fragile with potential and putting it into an environment where it can flourish.”

That’s taking place on a daily basis in Arden Hills. This season alone, McElroy has watched players – particularly on the defensive side of the ball – spread their wings and fly to new heights ahead of even the schedule he had built into his mind.

It’s a result of what the coach called “A long obedience in the same direction.”

“We are going to slowly build this thing in the correct way with guys who are going to be diligent and really care about the type of player they’re becoming and the type of man they’re becoming,” McElroy said. “I think what that does, you see the fruit of it now. … Really proud of the guys. They’ve stayed in. They’ve chosen this place. They’ve chosen us.”

Guys grow and develop as players and people. That’s what McElroy and his staff encourage – creating a bond with people so strong you’re willing to lay down your wants and desires for the betterment of the whole.

That – win or lose – is choosing joy.

Which, from Drews, stems from his love of the game and those with whom he shares it on a daily basis. That’s been cultivated within a Bethel football team he described as “the most loving and vulnerable group of guys I’ve been around.”

“You don’t think of football in a loving, vulnerable way. But this program really brings that out of you and calls you to be like that,” he said. “Those factors allow us to be really close to each other, and that allows us to push each other, hold each other accountable.

“And then you get the results on the field from that. But it all spurs off the culture of this place.”

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