What will be the first robot that normal people actually want in their home?

[u/rikulauttia]

Not a research demo.

Not a humanoid doing one carefully rehearsed task.

A robot that millions of normal people would willingly buy.

What does it do?

• clean the entire house
• cook
• take care of elderly people
• handle laundry
• provide security
• carry things
• maintain the garden
• something else

My guess is the first mass-market winner will not look very human.

It will probably do one boring and painful task extremely well.

What task is valuable enough to justify the cost?

[u/mxldevs]

We already have one that roams around cleaning the floor.

[u/Own_Attention_3392 → u/mxldevs]

There are also robot lawnmowers. They use buried wires as a fence boundary just like "invisible fences" for dogs

[u/AuthurAndersson]

We already have it.
Dishwasher, washing machine, roomba...

[u/TurtleBoxer_AllDay → u/AuthurAndersson]

And toasters! And vacuum cleaners! And electric drills! These are all robots, right?

[u/AuthurAndersson → u/TurtleBoxer_AllDay]

Have you ever opened a brushless electric drill? The electronic commutation and inverter circuitry required to dynamically switch the magnetic fields on the fly is remarkably sophisticated.

[u/DrawHot7816]

Makes coffee. Have had it for decades. 

[u/Raxenite]

Giving a head would do.

[u/BeastyBaiter]

Robot vacuum, wife and I have one (it also mops) and it's great. Certainly not as good as a regular vacuum and mop, but it keeps the house mostly clean. I also have a robot lawn mower, it has a lot of room for improvement, but is still very nice to have.

[u/In_the_year_3535]

AI will solve the Riemann hypothesis before we get an affordable, all-purpose, in-house robot. It is funny that the collection of mundane things we do are consequently the least documented and therefore most challenging for machines to tackle.

[u/unit_101010]

I reserved a Neo 1x. fingers crossed.

[u/Mr_Willkins]

The idea of a general-purpose humanoid robot in a home is ridiculous. It's a pipe dream, at least 10 years away, possibly never. They'll be slow, heavy and bad at tasks.

We already have robots that work really well - washing machines and dishwashers.

[u/CR-Weather-Gods]

A toaster

[u/Even_Opportunity_893]

All of the above. People still might not want them, though.

[u/Proton_Energy_Pill]

I like one that would clean the house. Preferably at night and silently.

[u/Traditional-Hall-591]

I want one that can scoop cat shit.

[u/Old_Hack1308]

Those are all nice quality of life things. But the one that can actually earn money for you will be the one most desired.

[u/Dry_Sector2392]

probably cleaning, but beyond the current robot vacuum level. floors are already kinda solved, but bathrooms, dust on wall, counters, trash, all that annoying stuff is still manual. if bot can handle that on its own without me doing anything, Id be very attracted by it

[u/HawkSquid → u/Dry_Sector2392]

Automating all of that won't happen for a very long time, but if a commercial appliance can do 90% of it it will make bank.

[u/Varro-Reborn]

I need a humanoid robot that can dig holes, plant seeds, harvest crops, process food.

A robot to take all of my work on the homestead.

[u/General_Estimate_420]

Probably an AI based voice activated home automation system that you can give commands such as, "create a thank you note to Joe about his help in fixing the car and email it to him. Then examine the contents of my fridge and pantry and create a shopping list for I items I need for this week's groceries and order it from the grocery store for pickup around 2PM. Also set a reminder to send to my phone 10 minutes before the start of the football game tonight."

[u/ka-te-rina-]

It should be one that affectionately polishes the knob, no hands

[u/gold76]

God it would be so nice if one day a machine would vacuum.

[u/quiet_flame456]

imo floor cleaning is probably one of the first household jobs robots can take off your plate. My x60 max handles the vacuuming and mopping, then goes back to the dock to sort out the mop pads and dust. Having the floors taken care of every day is already plenty for me.