Humanoid Robot That Walks on Two Legs and Cleans Has Arrived
A humanoid robot that walks on two legs and even scrubs toilets has been deployed in real homes. Developed by a U.S. robotics company, the robot walks like a human to operate a vacuum cleaner, wipes kitchen countertops, and then scrubs the toilet in the bathroom. It moves freely across stairs as well as carpets, tiles, and wooden floors, and can handle cleaning tools that require hand gripping.
The robot has entered the commercial service validation stage. Since August, reservations for a cleaning service that sends the robot to homes have been underway in San Francisco.
Garvit Gupta, a customer who experienced the service firsthand, shared his experience with kitchen cleaning. He said the robot's ability to spray detergent was quite good and the countertop looked really clean. However, he added that it was not as good at cleaning the bathtub.
Technical limitations remain. Currently, the robot needs remote-control assistance to move. Even so, the company remains confident, explaining that it is continuously improving the robot's autonomy by training it on footage of humans cleaning.
While there is still a long way to go before fully replacing human hands, household robots doing chores are entering real-world service, accelerating change in the home robot market.
