Scientists say that state-of-the-art robots powered by artificial intelligence are impressive in their capabilities, but they are still years away from replacing humans because they cannot yet adapt to changing conditions.
Last month, AI robotics company Figura unveiled its humanoid robots that perform basic tasks, such like cleaning a room, but a series of robots working for nine days sorting parcels has sparked debate about how quickly robots can replace work.
Oliver Obst, an associate professor of robotics at Australia’s University of New South Wales, told Cointelegraph that the greatest risk currently is that repetitive jobs, such as manual labor in a structured environment, will be replaced by robots, while administrative and document processing tasks could be replaced by artificial intelligence.
There are growing concerns that artificial intelligence and robots will replace humans in jobs as technology advances. A May report from consulting firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas found that US companies laid off an estimated 49,135 people in 2026 due to AI.
A group of Figure robots worked for nine days sorting parcels. Source: Character
However, Obst said it is unlikely that humanoid robots will be introduced on a mass scale soon because they do not appear to be more capable or less error-prone than current robotic production methods.
“Even in relatively structured environments, they still struggle with issues of reliability, speed, security, cost and the ability to recover from unexpected situations,” he said. “The harder it is to control the environment, the more difficult the robotics problem becomes. Most human jobs involve more variety and more judgment than demonstrating parcel sorting.”
“I wouldn’t say that we are at the stage of mass replacement with humanoid robots. We are much closer to selective automation of certain tasks. AI software is developing faster and is already influencing some forms of information work, but physical robots still have a much more difficult problem to solve.”
In another video from May, a worker managed sort more parcels compared to a team of Figures robots that swapped out when they needed a boost. Figura CEO Brett Adock said it would be the last time “a human will ever win.”
Source: Brett Adock
In some areas, humans are still better than bots
Markus Levin, co-founder of decentralized data network XYO, said artificial intelligence models and automation software can perform repetitive tasks with much greater consistency and robustness than humans; however, robots still require charging, maintenance and supervision.
September report from the International Federation of Robotics found that global demand for factory robots has doubled over the last decade, and warehousing and logistics are among the fastest growing application areas.
“I believe that widespread human replacement is still many years away,” Levin added. “Reliability, safety, regulation, infrastructure costs and trust remain the main barriers to full-scale implementation in society. The challenge is no longer just making machines operational, but ensuring they operate safely and reliably once they become more autonomous.”
Dr Francisco Cruz Naranjo, a senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales with a PhD in robotics, said the performance of robots compared to humans depends largely on activity and environment.
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“Robots are much better at performing repetitive tasks without the need for constant interruptions, as shown in the live broadcast of the drawing. However, in highly dynamic environments, robots still have difficulty adapting quickly to changing conditions,” he said.
“This is where humans are much better. This is why robots are currently very efficient in controlled environments such as factories, but have yet to be very successful in home settings.”
Naranjo said there is a risk of robots replacing repetitive work performed in less unchanging environments, but that will depend on how quickly research advances and how quickly society adapts in areas such as creating robot-friendly spaces, which will likely take many years.
Robots in society can be useful
Naranjo and Obst said mass adoption of robots in the workforce could have some benefits, such as improving work-life balance, increasing the workforce in areas where there are shortages, and addressing hazardous environments that are too risky for humans.
“The social issue is more difficult. If robots make dangerous work cheaper from a human perspective, that could be a good thing. But it could also have unintended consequences. For example, keeping people out of harm’s way during military operations could save lives, but it could also lower the perceived costs of conflict,” Obst said.
“Hypothetically, if we succeed in automating almost all work, society will have to rethink an economy currently built around individual wages and employment.”
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