If you have nothing better to do in the run-up to Christmas, how about a fascinating hour-long video of a humanoid robot sorting packages?
The clip was posted by the founder and CEO of Figure AI, the California-based company behind the humanoid robot Figure.
Brett Adcock responded to a post by AI commentator Mehmet Aykul on
Adcock responded with a video showing figure sorting packs for a full 60 minutes, adding: “Boring enough for you?”
Since many people are tired of the endless videos from various tech companies showing their humanoid robots fighting or dancing, it’s actually quite refreshing to see someone complete a boring but meaningful task like sorting and, more importantly, appear to be doing it well.
As the video shows, Figure’s AI-powered robot appears to have been tasked with placing various bags and boxes label-side down on a conveyor belt.
His nimble fingers are able to grip every package precisely. The robot then uses its built-in intelligence to locate the label before placing the package face down on the conveyor belt. There are several cases where the robot has difficulty grabbing the package, but most of the time it works efficiently and quickly.
Unless you’re a fan of slow TV, we don’t recommend watching the entire video, but just a few minutes of it will give you an idea of the capabilities of this particular design.
Figure also recently completed an 11-month deployment of some of its Figure 02 humanoid robots to a BMW factory in South Carolina, where more than 90,000 parts were loaded onto the production line to support the manufacture of more than 30,000 X3 vehicles.
Figure’s long-term vision focuses on developing general-purpose humanoid robots to eliminate unsafe and tedious work. However, challenges in achieving this goal include refining the design so that it can perform a range of tasks effectively and efficiently, as well as achieving mass deployment of the robot.
A growing number of companies around the world are struggling to achieve similar goals, although China’s top economic planning agency recently warned of a domestic bubble developing in the sector. With this in mind, next year looks set to be an exciting one in the world of humanoid robot development.
