[maxaw]

On reflection, inefficient and high level vs efficient low level is far from the only dimension to evaluate these tools on :P

Clearly humans are of the first sort, just like this robot.

To the current example you gave - I would argue that humans require a huge amount of configuration/maintenance - far more than any machine. Of course they are definitely effective at tasks once they get going.

As to what price/generality/reliability level I think people would really prefer - I guess we'll have to wait and see when these come on the market, if they ever do. It's nearly midnight where I am and my morning confidence in humanoid robots has waned a little