--- title: "Wild Video Shows Humanoid Robot Effortlessly Folding Laundry" description: "The AI robotics firm Figure released an impressive video of its humanoid robot, Figure 02, autonomously folding laundry." date: "2025-08-15" modified: "2025-08-15" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/video-humanoid-robot-laundry" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "automation" - "humanoid robot" - "robots" --- # Wild Video Shows Humanoid Robot Effortlessly Folding Laundry ![The AI robotics firm Figure released an impressive video of its humanoid robot, Figure 02, autonomously folding laundry.]() *\Image: Figure\* Earlier this month, AI robotics firm Figure [released a video]() showing Figure 02, the company's autonomous humanoid robot powered by a visual language system called Helix, loading clothes into a laundry machine to be washed. Now, the company says that the robot has a new skill: folding laundry. Figure announced the capability in a [blog post yesterday](), celebrating the news as a landmark event for the company and autonomous laundry frontiers writ large. The robot's folding prowess, the company declared, marks the "first instance of a humanoid robot with multi-fingered hands folding laundry fully autonomously using an end-to-end neural network." The firm [shared a video]() alongside the announcement, and we must admit: it's pretty impressive. Though the bipedal robot looks a little bit awkward at times, it can be seen picking up unfolded hand towels, gingerly tucking them into neat rectangles, and gently piling the folded cloths into a wicker basket. While laundry might be a monotonous task for actual humans, Figure made sure to [note]() that the everyday chore represents "one of the most challenging dexterous manipulation tasks for a humanoid robot." "Towels are deformable, constantly changing shape, bending unpredictably, and prone to wrinkling or tangling," [argued]() Figure. "There's no fixed geometry to memorize, and no single 'correct' grasp point. Even a slight slip of a finger can cause the material to bunch or fall." The impressive demonstration highlights just how far the tech has come thanks to machine learning, hinting at a future where humanoid robots could be helping out with everyday tasks — that is, if you can afford to buy one. https://twitter.com/Figure_robot/status/1955290971660251220 Figure also claims that its bot learned the skill without the company making any significant changes to Helix; on the contrary, it simply fed the model a new dataset. That's important for the company as well as its potential customers. As it stands, building, training, and buying autonomous humanoids carries a [hefty price tag](). It's been a big year for Figure. Back in June, the company showed Figure 02 [accurately sorting]() through packages at a mail sorting facility. Impressive as the video was, it served as a reminder of the kind of [human jobs that could soon be on the line](). And with CEOs [frothing]() at the [mouth]() to [replace]() human roles with AI, Figure's latest demo is yet another sign that automation could soon be coming for both white and blue-collar jobs. In short, it's not so much a question of if, but when. **More on Figure:** [*Watching This Humanoid Robot Sort Packages Is Quite Something*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()