The Consumer Electronics Show always has its share of wild and wacky tech, but we weren’t expecting Pixar’s Wall-E to turn up. Nor were we expecting LG to launch a robot that folds laundry for you, but that’s something the world really needs to prevent the Couch of Shame™. You know the one.
A Chinese company called Zeroth actually unveiled a slate of robots — one of which looks very much like the cute little animated die-hard, Wall-E. But, due to international copyright law, it can’t be sold outside of China. Instead, Western customers will have to make do with the Zeroth W1, which looks similar but not enough to trigger Pixar’s Unleash Rabid Lawyers trap card.
WALL-E presents his CLOiD
The 57cm-tall Zeroth W1 isn’t especially useful around the home. It’ll do things, sure, but the list of practical functions is… limited. It’ll follow owners, tote around objects, act as a games host (whatever that means), and also take photos using its integrated 13MP camera. It’s the carry weight that might be most impressive — Zeroth says its Wall-E derivative can handle loads of up to 50 kilograms — since it only weighs 20kg, that’s quite a feat. Why you’d want a slow-moving, treaded robot schlepping 50 kilos around at 1.8km/h is a question only you can answer. Still, there’s also LIDAR, RGB cameras, and a R92,200 price tag to look forward to.
A cheaper and more limited option is Zeroth’s M1 humanoid. This one’s much more toy-like, measuring 38 centimetres. It walks around, integrates Google’s Gemini AI, and has fall detection, among other functions. Just don’t expect a toy-like price, since it comes in at R47,750. That’s the price of the future, apparently.
LG, on the other hand, has gone wholly practical for its new CLOiD laundry robot. It doesn’t have a price tag that we can find, which is how we know it’ll be incredibly pricey. But think of never folding your washing ever again. What price is that worth?
The fact that it bears a passing resemblance to Wall-E‘s EVE robot is probably a massive coincidence, but LG reckons it’ll fold washing, fetch items from your fridge, and more besides. This is thanks to an advanced torso that sits on top of a wheeled base (no hover mode just yet, sorry), plus arms that offer “seven degrees of freedom, matching the mobility of a human arm.”
CLOiD’s head functions as a smart home hub, integrating all of the components you’d need for something like that. LG reckons that “these elements allow the robot to communicate with humans through spoken language and “facial expressions,” learn the living environments and lifestyle patterns of its users and control connected home appliances based on its learnings.”
Pair that with advanced upper body functions, and you’ve got the makings of your very own robot butler. Whether CLOiD will ever make it to retail is uncertain, but an evolution of the laundry/fridge/breakfast (it can put items into an oven) bot might just wind up being released. At some point.
