Robots at Home: Are Teleoperated Humanoids Really as Scary as They Seem? - CNET
See full bio Connor Jewiss 5 min read Humanoid robots have officially arrived... sort of. Companies are wheeling out sleek prototypes with human-like limbs, while cooing PR departments promise a future where your home is co-managed by a machine that never g...
Key takeaways
The most recent humanoid‑robot headlines show a surge in both performance records and new platforms for real‑world intelligence. In mid‑November, China’s AgiBot A2 completed a 66‑mile trek from Suzhou to Shanghai, earning a Guinness World Record and highlighting its built‑in chat and lip‑reading functions for customer‑service roles. A week later, OpenMind unveiled “BrainPack,” a backpack‑sized hardware‑plus‑software system that bundles perception, control, memory and autonomy, promising to give robots and humanoids genuine real‑world intelligence. Also in November, 1X’s Neo humanoid entered the market at a $20,000 price point, emphasizing teleoperation over full autonomy as the practical path for early industrial and home use. At the same time, Tokyo‑based Huayan Robotics announced it will debut its heavy‑payload S50 cobot and high‑speed Elfin collaborative robot at the iREX 2025 exhibition in early December, showcasing how human‑robot collaboration is reshaping manufacturing and logistics. Meanwhile, startup Sunday Robotics demonstrated a dexterous home assistant named Memo that can load dishwashers, fold socks and handle fragile wine glasses without relying on conventional tele‑operation or synthetic‑data training, underscoring a new approach to household robot learning. Together, these developments illustrate rapid progress in humanoid mobility, intelligence integration, and practical applications across both commercial and domestic settings.
See full bio
Connor Jewiss
5 min read
Humanoid robots have officially arrived... sort of. Companies are wheeling out sleek prototypes with human-like limbs, while cooing PR departments promise a future where your home is co-managed by a machine that never gets tired or complains about doing the dishes and other chores. InteractionLabs is pushing this even further. Its robot is essentially the long-lost cousin of Pixar's lamp Luxo Jr. -- complete with blinking eyes, bashful movements and personality oozing from its interactive voice. The startup even brought on a Toy Story animator to help nail the vibe.
This concept isn't new; Apple's first Macintosh said "Hello" when it booted up -- a simple touch that made the machine feel personable, friendly and alive. ## The future looks awkward
We're standing on the edge of a new chapter in domestic tech. The days of spending thousands of dollars and taking up floor space on multiple specialized home robots (like robot vacuums) are numbered.
Humanoid robots are coming, but not as all-knowing, self-driving household gods. They're arriving awkwardly, cautiously, part-human, part-machine and fully imperfect.
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