Factory employee shows there’s hope for humanity after beating robot | News World

That is the moment a factory employee took on a robot to see if he could still do his job faster – and won.

Aimé G, a visualisation specialist at Figure AI, went head-to-head with Bob the bot survive social media to see if man or machine could sort more packages in 10 hours, and proved – a minimum of for now – that mankind still has the sting.

In a post to X, the start-up’s CEO, Brett Adcock, said: ‘We got bored. Time for Man vs. Machine.’

Adcock went on to share the principles of engagement. The foundations were easy: whoever sorted probably the most packages within the allotted time won.

The competition adhered to labour laws in California, where the showdown took place, meaning Aimé was given each paid breaks and time to eat over the course of the ten hours.

Meanwhile, the bot was 100% automated and was not being remotely controlled by one other human, Adcock said.

‘For background – the duty is small package sorting,’ the tech boss added. ‘You have to detect the barcode, pick up the package, and reorient it barcode face-down onto the conveyor.

‘Our bet? The human is quicker, but fatigue and breaks may slow him down. Also – tortoise and the hare situation.

‘No person told the intern to let the robots win. Truthfully, it’s anyone’s guess who wins.’

In welcome news for humanity, Aimé did indeed sort probably the most packages – but it surely was a detailed call.

With 12,924 parcels processed versus the robot’s 12,732, there have been fewer than 200 packages in it.

In an ominous warning, Adcock said: ‘That is the last time a human will ever win.’

The AI tycoon also joked Aimé’s ‘left forearm is essentially broken’ and his fingers were covered in blisters at the top of the challenge.

People were quick to comment on the challenge, with one person writing: ‘I used to be skeptical of your robot at first, but this stream has proven beyond a doubt it’s able to doing actual work. 

‘This type of AI will unlock a lot human potential. That said, I’m still pulling for the human to win the competition.’

One other warned: ‘The human winning by 192 packages out of 12k+ is already an ethical victory for the robots. Next yr this won’t even be close.’

But another person who watched the live stream disagreed: ‘Robot dropped 4x more packages. And may’t pick them up. It did not flip square boxes and damaged 3x more labels.

‘We’re a minimum of a yr away from this being useful, imo [in my opinion].’

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