Jakarta, ThedailyID — Humanoid robots are moving beyond laboratories and into people’s homes, with one US startup now offering them as a cleaning service.
Tau Robotics is renting humanoid robots to customers in San Francisco for $30 an hour, or roughly $535,000 in Indonesian currency. The service is initially limited to the company’s first 1,000 customers and is currently available by invitation.
The robots can perform basic household tasks, including vacuuming, wiping kitchen counters and taking out trash. Each robot costs around $50,000 and is trained using artificial intelligence.
“Initially, they are trained to imitate human performance, and then they will be trained to exceed human performance,” Tau Robotics CEO Alexander Koch said, according to CBS News.
However, the robots are not yet fully autonomous. Human technicians remotely monitor their movements using VR headsets and can intervene when the machines encounter problems.
“Tau robots cannot do everything themselves. For example, they don’t know how to climb stairs or where they should vacuum. Currently, most commands are still directed by humans,” Koch said.
Safety Remains a Concern
Experts warn that humanoid robots could still pose risks inside homes. Ken Goldberg, a robotics and automation professor at the University of California, said the machines may appear agile but remain heavy and potentially dangerous if they fall.
“They look nimble, but they’re actually quite heavy,” Goldberg said.
Privacy is another concern because the robots use cameras as their eyes. Those cameras can capture images inside customers’ homes, potentially recording sensitive personal information.
Koch said Tau controls the technology and data collected by the robots.
“The camera systems, network and computers are all our own,” he said.
Tau expects its robots to become more independent around 2028 or 2029, although the company acknowledges that it is still learning where the technology’s limits lie.
