“Craft My Throne, O Mechanical Artisan!”

““Robot, make me a chair””

“In a lab at MIT, a robot has autonomously assembled a flat-packed IKEA chair in a little less than 20 minutes.” That’s right, we’re not kidding. A delicate piece of machinery made it through an endeavour fit for only the bravest of men and women – assembling an IKEA chair.

Welcome to the future, folks! Our newest technological marvel has managed to navigate the labyrinthine puzzle that is an IKEA manual and emerged victorious. Despite the staggering complexity, the bot from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory performed this feat in a mere 20 minutes. And no, it didn’t just randomly pound on the unassembled chair parts until something chair-like was formed. Precision, strategy, and a good load of algorithms were involved.

Technophiles, rejoice! The bot worked in two phases. First, it planned its actions by predicting what the chair should look like based on the manual and parts (a task that humans have found to be the equivalent of deciphering the Da Vinci Code). Then, it used a force sensor to detect if a part was slipping or if more pressure was needed, perfectly emulating the feeling of your palm glaring in pain as you struggle with the tiny IKEA hex wrench.

And yes, even the bot had its fair share of trials and tribulations. It experienced ‘human-like’ struggles such as parts slipping out or the need to apply more force. But rest assured, no swear words were recorded from the bot during this process, maintaining a level of composure most of us can only dream of during IKEA furniture assembly sessions.

Riveting as it is, what’s the significance of this development, you ask? Well, this experiment provides insights into the “pitfalls” that robots can face when doing tasks too complex for their programming. It’s an ironic reminder that being perfect isn’t as easy as it sounds. It’s a glimpse into a future where bots can perform intricate tasks independently, which frankly, isn’t too far off.

But let’s not get carried away. It’s a chair. One tiny measly chair. Robots have got a long, long way to go before our jobs are at risk. Or who knows? Maybe the key to world domination is just perfecting IKEA assembly. One can only wonder. Regardless, here’s a salute to the MIT robot for accomplishing this momentous task and providing some light, academic humour. Clearly, we’ve got a new IKEA assembly champ in town. See if you can beat that, humans.

Read the original article here: https://news.mit.edu/2025/robot-makes-chair-1216