Comment by cma
4 days ago
It doesn't need to have a sleeping surface or stay sprawled out when it isn't in use. It could bunch up into a little ball and fit in the corner of your ceiling. And it doesn't need to be the size of an adult to do most household stuff, some of the unitree ones are really short in stature, a foldable step stool for reaching upper cabinets or changing lightbulbs is probably enough.
A bigger issue is whether it can really be as safe, not trip over wires, throw the baby in the trashcan, start a fire trying to make a cup of coffee and that kind of thing. Beyond accidents, lots of companies are talking about hooking these up to LLMs for planning that have horror movies in their training sets.
The ones with wheels are going to trip over everything. The moment a company has enough functional use cases for one of these that it's not limited to one floor of your house, that version will be bipedal and not trip.
By bunch up in a ball I just mean assume the fetal position when powered off, not wheels. They wouldn't have to take up more space in house than a large piece of travel luggage on a shelf.
Honestly I think it would be pretty cool to have a giant spider robot climb up to a ceiling corner and perch there. Also horrifying. :)
I like your idea. I think anything like this that can move itself can be stored up high, too.