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I watched a humanoid robot clean my apartment. It felt like a taste of the future.
Confirmed
In Short: Gianna Capezio paid $30 to have a humanoid robot from Tau Robotics clean her apartment on August 21, according to People.
Humanoid robot is being programmed.
Why You Can Never Trust a Humanoid Robot in Your Home. SYSTEM MATRIX 369
Humanoid robots are increasingly becoming a part of everyday life, with companies like Tau Robotics sending robots to clean San Francisco homes.
In a significant move, GXO, Agility Robotics' first customer, expanded the use of Digit robots from a warehouse in Georgia to additional facilities in North Carolina and Tennessee.
Agility Robotics, based in Salem, Oregon, became the first to achieve full-time commercial deployment of humanoid robots at a customer warehouse in 2024.
Jonathan Hurst, co-founder and chief robot officer at Agility Robotics, told Ars Technica that when robots are used as a service, customers face lower risks and see a return on investment from day one.
The Unitree H2 humanoid, standing approximately 1.8 meters tall and weighing around 154 pounds, is publicly listed at $29,900 on Unitree's official store, though it ships with non-functional placeholder hands.
Shanghai-based AgiBot, the world's largest humanoid robot maker by shipments, delivered more than 8,600 units in the first half of 2026, accounting for about 35% of the global market.
At the 2026 Hangzhou Marathon, humanoid robot traffic police were on duty, operating in temperatures ranging from -20 C to 55 C.
The strategic partnership between Agility Robotics and a logistics company took effect on November 1, 2026, following initial tests involving two humanoid robots at facilities in Griesheim and Löhne.
Despite the growing presence of humanoid robots, they remain unproven at scale compared to industrial robots with decades of proven track records in warehouses and factories.
What this adds
Toyota is also entering the humanoid robot market with its units called ELEY.
Background
Toyota is also entering the humanoid robot market with its units called ELEY.
What's confirmed
- Humanoid robots are increasingly becoming a part of everyday life, with companies like Tau Robotics sending robots to clean San Francisco homes.
- In a significant move, GXO, Agility Robotics' first customer, expanded the use of Digit robots from a warehouse in Georgia to additional facilities in North Carolina and Tennessee.
- Agility Robotics, based in Salem, Oregon, became the first to achieve full-time commercial deployment of humanoid robots at a customer warehouse in 2024.
- Jonathan Hurst, co-founder and chief robot officer at Agility Robotics, told Ars Technica that when robots are used as a service, customers face lower risks and see a return on investment from day one.
- The Unitree H2 humanoid, standing approximately 1.8 meters tall and weighing around 154 pounds, is publicly listed at $29,900 on Unitree's official store, though it ships with non-functional placeholder hands.
- Shanghai-based AgiBot, the world's largest humanoid robot maker by shipments, delivered more than 8,600 units in the first half of 2026, accounting for about 35% of the global market.
- At the 2026 Hangzhou Marathon, humanoid robot traffic police were on duty, operating in temperatures ranging from -20 C to 55 C.
- The strategic partnership between Agility Robotics and a logistics company took effect on November 1, 2026, following initial tests involving two humanoid robots at facilities in Griesheim and Löhne.
- Despite the growing presence of humanoid robots, they remain unproven at scale compared to industrial robots with decades of proven track records in warehouses and factories.
What's still developing
- At the time I booked, Tau was offering $30 for an hourlong cleaning with a single robot; now the charge is $60 per weekly cleaning with two robots, or $100 for a one-time visit.
- A promotional video released on Wednesday shows the robot disarming a knife-wielding intruder, smashing a car door, lifting a vehicle to free a trapped victim, and pulling a pedestrian away from an oncoming car.
- The Unitree H2 is publicly listed at $29,900 on Unitree's official store, one of the only full-size humanoids with a real list price, though at our July 17 check the listing showed out of stock (contact sales).
- The number comes with fine print nobody puts in a headline: the base robot ships with non-functional placeholder hands, secondary development requires the EDU edition (quote-only), and North American buyers ordering through Unitree's regional partner pay from $40,900.
- For example, a baseline Unitree G1 humanoid robot designed for robot developers and researchers sells for $13,500, not including shipping costs, while the Unitree R1 robot intended for more casual consumers sells for $4,900.
- As part of its push into robotics, Meta has built a prototype humanoid robot that's meant to help out around people's homes, according to The Information.
- According to The Information 's sources, the robot weighs roughly 106 lbs and is about 1.5 meters tall, or approximately five feet tall.
- According to AgiBot, all 110 robots were standard production models rather than machines specially modified for the performance.
- Johnson told the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Brief this week that today’s bipedal robots go well beyond back flips and making coffee, and that humanoid robotics has moved into real paid deployments.
- Agility now has to produce 185 times more robot-hours than it has ever logged.
- The 4-foot-tall humanoid robot that’s in front of me seems, quite honestly, a bit drunk.
- Mecka AI, a startup that collects and analyzes human motion data to train humanoid robots and other kinds of robots, announced it has raised a $60 million Series B round led by Sequoia, with participation from Nvidia, Microsoft’s venture fund M12, and others.