Are humanoid robots ready to scrub your kitchen and take out the trash? Not quite.
Watch CBS News # Are humanoid robots ready to scrub your kitchen and take out the trash? Not quite. August 11, 2026 / 11:23 AM EDT / CBS News Sick of cleaning your home? One company wants to let you offload the task to a humanoid robot.
Key takeaways
- Humanoid robot shipments are surging, with Smart Analytics Global reporting roughly 19,100 units shipped worldwide in the first half of 2026—more than triple the volume a year earlier—and projecting full‑year deliveries near 60,000, potentially climbing to 500,000 by 2030.
- China dominates the market, accounting for about 97 % of H1 shipments, driven by extensive supply‑chain support, new tariff codes, export‑insurance policies and a wave of government programs for real‑scenario training.
- The sector’s most visible commercial players include Unitree Robotics, which shipped over 5,500 units in 2025, announced an IPO on Shanghai’s STAR Market with a target valuation of roughly 61 billion yuan, and introduced a $16,000 G1 model that consumes only $82 a year in electricity.
- In industry settings, Xiaomi’s humanoid is already assembling components in its EV factory, AgiBot’s Elf G2 operates on a 3C production line, and StarDance’s M7 robot serves logistics centres for SF Express and China Post.
- New applications are also emerging: Tau Robotics is piloting a San Francisco household‑cleaning service with $30‑per‑hour humanoids, while Foundation’s “Phantom” robot is being pitched for autonomous border‑patrol duties, though no formal contracts exist yet.
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Watch CBS News
August 11, 2026 / 11:23 AM EDT / CBS News
Sick of cleaning your home? One company wants to let you offload the task to a humanoid robot.
For $30 an hour, some San Francisco residents can now hire a robot to clean their home. Tau Robotics, an engineering company that builds AI technology to power robots, announced the service last month as part of a pilot program open to 1,000 households.
The humanoid robots, dressed in black Tau Robotics uniforms and given names such as Chelsea and Elon, perform household chores like vacuuming, cleaning kitchen counters and taking out the trash. Tau trains the bots, which cost $50,000 each to make, using artificial intelligence. ## Humanoids in the home?
The humanoid robot industry is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years as investors pour more money into artificial intelligence. Barclays Investment Bank predicts that the market, now valued at $2 billion to $3 billion, could grow to $200 billion by 2035.
A separate analysis by Morgan Stanley Research released last year estimates that the humanoid robot population will reach nearly 1 billion by 2050. However, the investment bank said prices will need to decline significantly, and societal acceptance of the bots will need to increase before such devices make their way into homes. For now, most humanoid robots are being used for other purposes. Barclays estimates that 15,000 such robots were deployed in 2025, 90% of which were used in industrial settings such as manufacturing and warehousing.
Zornitsa Todorova, an analyst at Barclays, predicted that deployment of the technology will be "gradual and incremental" and that "meaningful adoption" will take at least five years. As the robots' capabilities improve, Todorova believes interest in home applications will spike.
"While adoption remains at an early stage today, the economic opportunity for humanoids performing service-oriented tasks is significant," she said in an email.
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