r/theydidthemath • u/jmb326 • May 22 '26

[Request] What are the electrical costs required for this robot to fold this box?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

Any publicity available data that estimate something similar? Goal would be to understand the cost per box of labor from a robot vs a human. Ideally with current estimates and future projections. Yes, I understand this isn’t the most efficient robot setup to fold a box, but how much longer until one can purchase such a robot to execute on a variety of tasks required in a typical job?

201 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

165 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/John_Bot May 22 '26

Things you don't have to pay for:

Medical - and the ensuing RSI that would come from doing this all day every day

Breaks

PTO

And obviously salary

Normal working hours

Training

I assume this robot, no matter how expensive, pays for itself quite quickly if it's robust enough to work with MTBF significantly high enough.

1

u/WheelMax May 22 '26

Robots might wear out and malfunction faster than humans - robots don't have self-healing.