Home robots were a feature of this year’s CES. Now, a company called Weave Robotics hopes to send Isaac 1, its assistant robot, into homes before anyone else can do it. At something approaching scale, anyway. Whether that’s a good idea or not depends on your willingness to part with R130,000 ($8,000) to have a Baymax knockoff trundling over your floors.
Users can also experience the robot at a monthly subscription price. For R7,300 a month ($450/m), you can have the vaguely humanoid creator bumble around your home extremely slowly. It’ll make vague gestures at your clothing and bed, hopefully completing its tasks before its eight-hour battery runs out.
I’ll take the Isaac 1
It might seem like we’re being harsh on poor Isaac 1. That’s because, in a very real sense, we are. The robotic assistant doesn’t appear to be especially capable at its Laundry Fold and Daily Reset functions. It definitely doesn’t feel ready for a full release. The fact that Weave Robotics isn’t showing tasks completed from start to finish doesn’t bode well for its operational speed.
The same goes for its dexterity. The robot can probably make a bed, provided it doesn’t have to tuck in any sheets, and its claw hands are suited to lifting small objects and clothing from floors and surfaces. It’ll also probably fold your laundry. Eventually. But it isn’t likely to be fully autonomous. In fact, Weave Robotics is specific about this.
“Isaac 1 is autonomous for Laundry Flow and Daily Reset by default, with teleoperation assistance when needed to guarantee we complete tasks,” the company mentions on its website. In other words, when your R130,000 home robot fails to finish its very simple job, a remote human will take over. A remote human who must, by necessity, peer through cameras at your home to get the job done.
Another company gave this a shot recently. Neo is a R350,000-ish home robot that also requires remote operation because it’s actually not that capable on its own. At either of these price points, it’s far, far more affordable to hire a human or pick up after yourself.
