Robots assemble Ikea chair in under ten minutes
Loathe building flat-pack furniture? Androids are here to help

The stressful task of assembling flat-pack furniture looks set to become a thing of the past following the unveiling this week of a robot that can do it for you.
Scientists at Nanyang Technological University, in Singapore, have created an android featuring a 3D camera and “industrial robot arms” with grippers that is capable of assembling furniture without human help, The Guardian reports.
Tasked with constructing Ikea’s £18 Stefan chair, two robots working together successfully assembled the chair in just nine minutes - faster than it would take most humans, the newspaper says.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
However, the scientists had previous spent around 11 minutes programming the robots to perform the assembly process.
The team hope that, by integrating more artificial intelligence (AI) into the robots, they will one day be able to teach themselves how to build pieces of furniture by studying the instruction manual, looking at a picture of the finished item, or through verbal commands, the newspaper reports.
Although robots have been used in car assembly lines for decades, more intricate tasks - such as building Ikea furniture - poses a far great challenge for droids, reports the Daily Mail.
While assembly line machines carry out the same task repeatedly, robots have to carry out a series of different movements pick up and fit together furniture parts.
One of the scientists on the programme, Quang-Cuong Pham, told Reuters that the team hopes the robot will be able to assemble furniture such as the Ikea chair without requiring additional programming within the next five to ten years.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
'Trucking is a dangerous business'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Higher toy prices from Trump's tariffs have arrived
In the Spotlight Three out of four toy products in the US come from China
-
The god in the machine
Feature An AI model with superhuman intelligence could soon become reality. Should we be worried?
-
AI chatbots are leading some to psychosis
The explainer The technology may be fueling delusions
-
Amazon's robotaxi looks to be Waymo's biggest competitor
In the Spotlight The company recently opened a new robotaxi production plant in California
-
Unreal: A quantum leap in AI video
Feature Google's new Veo 3 is making it harder to distinguish between real videos and AI-generated ones
-
Will 2027 be the year of the AI apocalypse?
A 'scary and vivid' new forecast predicts that artificial superintelligence is on the horizon A 'scary and vivid' new forecast predicts that artificial superintelligence is on the horizon
-
College grads are seeking their first jobs. Is AI in the way?
In The Spotlight Unemployment is rising for young professionals
-
Disney, Universal sue AI firm over 'plagiarism'
Speed Read The studios say that Midjourney copied characters from their most famous franchises
-
Learning loss: AI cheating upends education
Feature Teachers are questioning the future of education as students turn to AI for help with their assignments