Video of the Week: Figure Helix Logistics

Man ... I could watch this all day.

Here we have a humanoid robot, called Figure Helix, sorting packages. It methodically picks and turns them over so that the address is flat on the bottom before sending them off down the conveyor belt.

A really simple task, yes - but can you imagine a human doing it, for a whole hour, without comment or complaint?

There's also something mesmerising about it - the repetitive motion, the slight difference in the packages and how it deals with them. Fast when the label lands face down straight away, slightly more protracted when it has to turn them over. Sometimes it pats the package down flat, sometimes it seems really quite cavalier about how un-flat the package is. But always label face-down, always moving, always progressing.

In terms of productivity enhancement, the case is made. This - and millions of jobs like it - shall be done in this way, by these robots, in the future. Which will free us humans up to do all manner of much more exciting things. If we can just tear our eyes off watching it ...