Why the future home robot might not need legs

This year's tech shows, including CES and IFA in Berlin, have featured dozens of humanoid robots, several aimed at the home. US company 1X has already placed its $20,000 Neo robots in homes to help with chores, while at IFA roughly half a dozen humanoid robots, mostly from China, are set to showcase rapidly advancing skills.

But a Verge technology reviewer who has spent years testing home robots — from robotic vacuums and lawnmowers to litter-scooping and cooking bots — argues that a fully humanoid robot housekeeper isn't practical. Homes are messy, unpredictable spaces, and most have stairs, which are difficult for legged robots to handle. At CES, not a single humanoid robot she tested could open a bottle of laundry detergent.

A robot brain instead of hands

She suggests a more practical solution is an AI-powered 'robot brain' — a smart home controller that orchestrates the autonomous devices people already own, such as sending out a vacuum when a pet spills food or running the washing machine when electricity is cheap. Samsung's Ballie robot pursued a similar idea but never launched, while LG's CLOiD humanoid looks more promising.

At IFA, company Tuya will unveil Doova, a small, wheeled, armless robot designed to assist seniors living alone. It can track its owner around the house, start an emergency video call, and control lights, curtains, and kitchen appliances.

LG's CLOiD, meanwhile, has arms with seven degrees of freedom and five individually actuated fingers per hand. At a CES demo, it folded clothes, removed items from a fridge, and loaded a washing machine, albeit slowly. LG says it is now training hundreds of CLOiD units at a new data factory in Seoul, aiming to gather around 100,000 hours of training data by year's end.

The reviewer concludes that the future of home robotics likely isn't a single do-everything machine, but a team of specialized robotic devices coordinated by a shared 'robot brain.'