Comment by rswail
14 days ago
Vacuuming and mopping are not inherently "designed" for humans.
Dusting with a single extensible and multiple degrees of freedom arm would be much more maneuverable than a human arm.
Loading and unloading washing machines or dryers or doign the same for dishes and cutlery in a dishwasher is not inherently designed for humans.
If anything, selling an integrated "housekeeping" system that fits into an existing laundry and combines features would be a much better approach.
I agree that each would be made slightly better with a more integrated system. But you could handle all of them in my hundred year old house with the form factor it was designed for: a humanoid. Probably pretty soon here for cheaper than each could be handled separately by more integrated systems.
For new builds, a laundry/utility room that includes the dishwashing and other "housekeeping" facilities is a no-brainer when there is a custom robot built to use those facilities as well as maneuver around the rest of the house.
For old/retrofit renovations it also makes sense, but otherwise, yes, a human-form robot makes sense.
The question is which is a better investment for any robot manufacturer in 2026?