Robot butler dream 'doesn’t have legs,' The Verge argues at IFA

According to The Verge, humanoid robots have been a major theme in robotics this year. At CES, dozens of human-shaped robots appeared on the show floor, some designed for homes, and at IFA about half a dozen humanoids, mostly from China, are scheduled to present their skills. The US company 1X has placed its $20,000 Neo robot in some homes to perform housework, though with significant remote assistance.

Despite those advances, homes are messy, unpredictable environments and often have stairs, making full-size humanoids impractical, the review says. At CES this year, the reviewer challenged every humanoid encountered to open a bottle of laundry detergent; none could. Developers replied that the robot would need to learn the task first.

The alternative proposed in the piece is not a single machine that tries to do everything, but a robot brain able to run a smart home proactively. It could send out a robot vacuum when a pet spills food, start a washing machine when energy is cheap, or dispatch a lawnmower when the edges need trimming. The review says that idea appeared to be behind Samsung’s never-launched Ballie and LG’s CLOiD humanoid, and is part of the long-term vision for Amazon’s Alexa Plus and Google’s Gemini for Home, though no one is close.

At IFA this week, Tuya, a global AI cloud platform provider, is introducing a more focused version of that concept. Doova is a short, round robot on wheels without arms, designed to help seniors living alone. Tuya says Doova has dynamic facial expressions, can track its owner in the house, open a live video call to family if no response, provide conversational companionship, and act as a smart home hub for lights, curtains, and kitchen and bathroom appliances. No price or release date was announced.

The article notes that these home robots need cameras to navigate and interact, which raises privacy concerns. A possible middle ground, the review suggests, is a wheeled robot with arms rather than a full-size humanoid.