The robot butler dream doesn’t have legs
The Verge Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
LG is training hundreds of wheeled CLOiD housekeepers in real homes. So the robot-home hype is moving, but not on two legs.
Based on reporting by The Verge, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy — read the original for the full story.
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Humanoid robots may be having their big year, but LG’s home robot is taking a different route. Its CLOiD is a housekeeper on wheels, not legs, and the company says it’s building a robot foundation model by training hundreds of them in home environments.
That choice says a lot. The dream version of the robot butler has always been human-shaped, the kind of machine that walks into a kitchen and makes itself useful. LG is skipping that drama for something closer to a smart appliance that can roll around the house and learn from real rooms instead of glossy demos.
The timing is no accident. This has already been a loud year for humanoids. CES was packed with them, including a handful aimed at home use. And US robotics company 1X has already put its $20,000 Neo robot into homes to do housework, though with plenty of remote help.
The momentum keeps building this week at IFA in Berlin, where around half a dozen humanoids, mostly from China, are set to appear on the catwalk. But LG’s move suggests the practical race may not be about legs at all. It may be about which machine can actually learn a house without tripping over the fantasy of what a robot is supposed to look like.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
Wheels are a lot less glamorous than humanoid swagger, which is exactly why they may win. The home is full of annoyances, not cinematic moments, and the industry keeps pretending customers want a tuxedo with sensors instead of something that just gets the job done. That’s usually how tech grows up: first the demo, then the cart on wheels.
Read more about this at: The Verge
