Humanoid home robots are on the market – but do we really want them?
Humanoid home robots are on the market – but do we really want them?
https://theconversation.com/humanoid-home-robots-are-on-the-market-but-do-we-really-want-them-270370
Publish Date: 2026-02-19 19:13:00
Source Domain: theconversation.com
Last year, Norwegian-US tech company 1X announced a strange new product: “the world’s first consumer-ready humanoid robot designed to transform life at home”.
Standing 168 centimetres tall and weighing in at 30 kilograms, the US$20,000 Neo bot promises to automate common household chores such as folding laundry and loading the dishwasher.
Neo has a built-in artificial intelligence (AI) system, but for tricky tasks it requires a 1X employee wearing a virtual reality helmet to remotely take over the robot. The operator can see whatever the bot does inside your house, and the process is recorded for future learning.
Other household androids are expected to hit the market this year. But Neo shows the issues at play, which will be familiar to anyone who has watched the AI boom of the past few years: products launched with great fanfare and limited capabilities, concealed privacy risks, and invisible remote workers behind the scenes.
The dream of human-like robots
Machines made in the human likeness have figured in mythology and history for millennia.
But the idea they might realistically be practical consumer products is more recent. Yet it’s a popular one: more than 50 companies around the world are developing this type of robot.
Why now? The past few years have seen improvements in hardware such as batteries, motors and sensors – many thanks to the burgeoning electric vehicle industry. At the same time, the AI systems to control the hardware have also become far more capable.
Hurdles remain
Despite huge technical progress, these robots are still clumsy at handling everyday tasks in homes or hospitals or other uncontrolled environments. While specialised bots such as vacuum cleaners have become a familiar sight, the fact remains that human homes aren’t designed for robots.
And for many fiddly tasks, such as folding laundry, more specialised…
