[michaelt]

They're trying to show their investors a butler robot that can do all types of household chores.

Folding fabric has traditionally been very hard to solve with robots; the ideal places to grab the fabric might be hidden, the fabric patterns are repetitive, and the material flops around, tangles in the grippers, and brings other pieces of laundry with it.

Successfully sorting and folding a basket of laundry shows they've got a control system capable of performing some quite difficult tasks.

[karolist]

They also use a large ring attached to the first zipper to help the robot grab it. This is not a realistic zipper, but I do appreciate them being honest and showing that grabbing small objects is still not perfect

[mk89]

All you need to do to understand what task is more complex (for a robot to solve) is just to ask a 6-8 years old child to do it. It takes days before they "understand".

So it cannot be that simple (for the reasons you mentioned).