(Tech Correspondent) – Forget folding towels or sorting colors – the holy grail of home robotics has always been conquering the dreaded laundry basket. While robot vacuums have become commonplace, the complex, dexterous tasks of household chores have remained stubbornly out of reach for machines. That is, until a video surfaced this week showing Figure 02, a humanoid robot from AI startup Figure, performing a laundry task with unsettlingly human-like skill.
The demonstration, shared by Figure founder Brett Adcock, doesn't involve fancy folding or ironing (yet). Instead, it showcases something arguably more fundamental and challenging: the ability to reliably pick up randomly oriented items from a bin and place them precisely into a washing machine.
What Makes This Different?
This isn't pre-programmed arm movements. Figure 02 is leveraging its advanced AI vision system and neural networks to see the crumpled towel in the basket, understand its shape and orientation, plan a grasp, and then execute a smooth, coordinated movement to pick it up. The real magic happens next: it accurately navigates the towel to the open washing machine drum and releases it inside. It repeats this process, handling different items.
Watch the surprisingly smooth (and slightly uncanny) action here:
https://x.com/adcock_brett/status/1950685253447913798
Key Observations from the Video:
- Visual Perception: The robot clearly identifies individual laundry items amidst clutter in the basket.
- Adaptive Grasping: It adjusts its hand position and grip based on the item it sees – a different approach for a large towel versus a smaller piece of clothing.
- Spatial Reasoning: It understands the location and orientation of the washing machine drum relative to itself and the basket.
- Precision Placement: The items are placed into the drum, not just tossed in the general direction. Notably, the robot even pauses momentarily to adjust the position of the washing machine door with its other hand while holding an item – a subtle, incredibly human-like touch.
- Speed and Fluidity: While not lightning-fast, the movements are deliberate, coordinated, and significantly smoother than most industrial robots performing similar tasks. There's no jerky motion.
Why Laundry? Why Humanoids?
Laundry encapsulates the core challenges of home robotics: dealing with unpredictable, soft, deformable objects in cluttered environments, requiring fine dexterity and spatial understanding. Mastering this task is a significant indicator of a robot's ability to handle a wide array of domestic chores.
The choice of a humanoid form factor (two arms, two legs, a torso with a head) is strategic. Proponents argue that homes and workplaces are designed for humans. A robot shaped like a human can theoretically navigate stairs, use standard tools, sit in chairs, and operate appliances like dishwashers, ovens, and yes, washing machines, without requiring massive redesigns of our environments. Figure, along with competitors like Tesla (Optimus), Boston Dynamics (Atlas), and Apptronik, are betting heavily on this approach for general-purpose helper robots.
The Bigger Picture: From Lab to Living Room?
Figure emphasizes that this demo is powered entirely by end-to-end AI – vision systems processing input and neural networks generating actions in real-time. This is crucial for adaptability. Pre-programming every possible scenario in a messy home is impossible; the robot needs to learn and react.
"This is a huge step," commented Dr. Elena Petrova, a roboticist at MIT not affiliated with Figure. "Reliable manipulation of soft, unstructured objects in real-world settings has been a massive hurdle. While this is a controlled demo, the fluidity and apparent autonomy are very impressive. The real test will be consistency over hundreds of cycles and in truly chaotic home environments."
Challenges Remain:
Skeptics point out significant hurdles before Figure 02 loads your whites and colors:
- Cost: Current humanoids are prohibitively expensive for consumers.
- Safety: Operating safely around unpredictable humans and pets is paramount and complex.
- Battery Life & Speed: Performing chores efficiently requires endurance and quicker task completion.
- The "Uncanny Valley": Some people find highly human-like robots unsettling.
- Beyond Single Tasks: True utility requires switching between many different chores seamlessly.
The Takeaway:
Figure's laundry demo isn't just about clean clothes. It's a powerful statement of progress in embodied AI and dexterous robotics. It demonstrates that humanoid robots are rapidly moving beyond walking demonstrations and controlled factory tasks into the realm of practical, valuable assistance in human spaces. While your robotic butler isn't arriving tomorrow, the video proves they're learning the most human of skills – one crumpled towel at a time. The dream of a robot that can truly "help around the house" just got a significant load lighter.
Here's a F.02 in my home, using Helix to do my laundry pic.twitter.com/MXFf1o81EG
— Brett Adcock (@adcock_brett) July 30, 2025
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