[Digital Today reporter Yoonseo Lee] Humanoid robots are rapidly improving in their ability to carry out tasks, but an analysis says it will take several more years before they can fully replace human labor.

Cointelegraph, a blockchain media outlet, reported on June 3 local time that a humanoid robot demonstration recently released by robotics company Figure AI drew attention, but adaptability, stability and cost issues that are key to real-world deployment remain challenges.

At the center of the discussion are several demonstration videos that Figure posted on X, formerly Twitter, in May. The company showed robots performing basic tasks such as cleaning rooms and sorting parcels. Debate over when robots could replace human jobs intensified after footage spread of multiple robots sorting parcels for 9 consecutive days.

Researchers, however, said such demonstrations are unlikely to lead directly to large-scale deployment. Oliver Obst, an associate professor of robotics at the University of New South Wales in Australia, pointed to repetitive manual labor in structured environments as the area most likely to be replaced by robots. He said AI is more likely than humanoid robots to replace document processing or administrative work.

Obst said humanoid robots are unlikely to be rolled out on a large scale in the near term. He said it is hard to view current technology as more efficient or less error-prone than existing manufacturing robots. "Even in relatively structured environments, they face issues of reliability, speed, safety, cost and recovery in unexpected situations," he said. "The harder it is to control the environment, the more difficult the robot problem becomes." He added that most jobs require far more variables and judgement than parcel sorting.

In another video that Figure AI released in May, a single human worker sorted more parcels than a Figure robot team, and the robots had to rotate out whenever they needed charging. Brett Adcock, Figure AI's chief executive officer, called the scene "the last example of a human winning," but it was also seen as an example showing productivity at the current stage.

The strengths of automation software and AI models are also clear. Marcus Levin, co-founder of the decentralized data network XYO, assessed that AI and automated systems can perform repetitive tasks much more consistently than humans and for longer periods. But he said robots still require charging, maintenance and supervision, and he pointed to reliability, safety, regulation, infrastructure costs and social trust as key barriers to full deployment.

Adoption in the field is already increasing. The International Federation of Robotics said in a report last September that global demand for industrial robots has doubled over the past 10 years. Warehousing and logistics were cited as among the areas where adoption is expanding the fastest. This has fueled ongoing speculation that automation pressure could grow, starting with repetitive and standardized tasks.

Efficiency, however, varies widely depending on the type of work and the environment. Francisco Cruz Naranjo, a senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales, assessed that in repetitive tasks like Figure's live stream, robots can show strengths because they can work without resting. But he said, "In very dynamic environments, robots still struggle to quickly adapt to changing conditions." He said repetitive work carried out in less fixed environments also faces replacement risk, but the timing will differ depending on the pace of research progress and how quickly society changes into more robot-friendly spaces.

Amid these trends, discussion continues over the effects of the spread of robots. Obst and Naranjo said robots could help supplement areas with labor shortages and take over work environments that are dangerous for humans. They also assessed that some improvements could be possible in terms of working hours and work-life balance.

But social costs and side effects remain separate challenges. Obst said it could be positive for robots to take on dangerous tasks instead of humans, but it could also produce unintended consequences. He pointed out in particular that keeping humans away from danger, such as in military operations, can save lives, but it can also lower the costs of conflict.

Researchers said the core of the current robot race is not the demonstration capability itself, but whether robots can work safely and stably in real-world settings. Automation of repetitive tasks could accelerate, but they shared the view that it will take more time before humanoid robots can broadly replace human work that requires diverse variables and judgement.

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