A humanoid that doubles laundry on its own: Figure AI shows the skill of its propeller robot in the video

A task that we will miss soon? In X, Figure AI of the American Robotics Company revealed a video in which we see its humanoid Helix folding laundry, independently. A task that may seem careless, but is an important advance in robotic innovation.

The challenge of manipulating soft elements

Why is a feat in skill? In Robotics, machines now know more or less entering rigid solid objects, such as a football ball or a box, for example.

But as soon as it is a malleable object (object whose shape can be altered) as a cake mass or a shirt, robots have many more difficulties in manipulating the object, because physics behind is difficult to interpret for them.

Applied to the industrial environment, this finds its interest if a humanoid must handle cables or plastic sachets, for example. We had already seen propeller classifying objects wrapped in plastic. In a few years, one could imagine that this type of robots could handle liquid elements, such as water or in the form of dust.

Although it may seem impressive, if we observe the video closely, we notice that Helix can only bend a single type of laundry for the moment, which are small rectangular towels that have exactly the same dimensions. It is still a relatively very simple fold, the robot is not yet ready to fold dresses or shirts.

Robotics career

This demonstration can be interpreted as a nose for Tesla, one of the main competitors of Figure AI. In January 2024, Elon Musk’s company had published a video in which his humanoid robot, Optimus, Fold of Linen could be seen. However, in this demonstration of Tesla, the machine was not independent but remote control.

Figure AI is among the most followed companies in the race for innovation in humanoid robotics, a field dominated by Americans and Chinese. The sector is talking a lot about him, especially because several companies such as Tesla, Unitree or Boston Dynamics often exhibit the progress of their respective robots in their networks. On August 14, the First World Humanoid Games (World Humanoid Robotics Games) will open in Beijing.