The emergence of generative AI products like ChatGPT has woken up many to the immediate dangers of AI. Not everyone is worried about a future catastrophe caused by highly intelligent AI. Some believe that in the near future, AI will take over jobs and allow companies to automate roles that previously required human labor.
I'm not worried about that, but this $16,000 humanoid AI robot has made me realize that I can't wait for AI to take over my household jobs — a home robot that will do all of my regular household chores without any direct input from me.
That's not to say that the Unitree G1 robot, which you see in the clip below, is ready to replace humans in our homes just yet, but it's probably a few years before innovations in robotics and AI make such household companions a reality.
$16,000 humanoid robot
Unitree Robotics is a Chinese company that plans to mass-produce a humanoid robot for around $16,000. This robot is by no means affordable, nor is it necessarily made for the modern smart home, and I don't trust current AI technology for what I consider to be the smart home robot I want in the future.
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But Unitree has created something amazing. As you can see in the following clip, G1 looks like a robot designed for the home, not the assembly line. It has a pleasing humanoid appearance, complete with a face and three-fingered hands. It can balance in a variety of scenarios and tackle all kinds of obstacles.
The robot is 1.32 m (4.33 ft) long when standing, but folds down to about 690 x 450 x 300 mm (27 x 17.7 x 11.8 in) when stored. It weighs about 35 kg (77 lbs) and has a 9,000 mAh battery that provides about 2 hours of battery life.
The robot is equipped with 3D LiDAR, RealSense depth cameras for the eyes, a noise-canceling microphone array, and 5W stereo speakers.
In other words, this type of robot would be a great addition to any household. Before genAI products like ChatGPT and Gemini, we would have completely ignored domestic robots, whether they were four-legged companions or humanoids.
The possibility that AI robots will take my job
But large-scale language models enable robots to understand human speech and respond in a conversational way, and innovations like OpenAI's voice mode for ChatGPT and Google's Gemini Live make it possible to converse with humanoid robots in the same way we would.
Why would I want to do that? First, a humanoid robot would give ChatGPT and Google a physical presence. Instead of talking to a smartphone or a mobile phone, you would be talking to a human-like device. But that's not why I want to have a humanoid robot in my home.
I would like a robot to do household chores according to my instructions whether I'm at home or away, I would like to be able to talk to it or send it a text message and have it respond accordingly.
Specifications for the Unitree Robotics G1 humanoid robot. Image courtesy of Unitree
I would tell the robot to cook meals, load and unload dishes in the washing machine, dust, vacuum, mop the whole house, clean the windows, water the plants, iron my clothes, etc. I would also have the robot unload the dishes from the dishwasher, since it should be able to handle them without breaking them.
I can have the robot open windows at preset times to ventilate the house when I'm not there. I can also tell it to turn on lights at preset times or play random music or videos to trick burglars into thinking someone is home. The robot can be the center of a smart home surveillance system and act as a deterrent.
The robot can also deliver packages whether I'm home or not, and while it would be great if I could tell it to take out the trash or run a quick trip to the nearest grocery store, I doubt I'll be doing that.
One more thing
Robots could also be useful in emergencies, and Google has given the Pixel Watch 3 a life-saving feature not available on other smartwatches: the wearable can call emergency services if it can't detect a pulse.
Imagine a nearby robot noticing that its owner is in distress — perhaps alone at home choking on food or falling and hitting its head — the AI humanoid robot could call 911 and open the door. It could even help provide basic assistance like opening the airway and administering CPR until paramedics arrive.
Similarly, humanoid robots could make good babysitters for small children and the elderly, but we're not sure we'd trust that to AI.
We're not there yet
All of this may sound like a sci-fi scenario at this point, but I have no problem hiring a home robot to help me with all of my household chores. As I get older in the AI era, I want to focus more on health and fitness, so anything that can help me with household chores to save time and eliminate unnecessary effort is helpful.
Again, Unitree shows the robot handling a frying pan in a “cooking” scenario, but that scenario isn't necessarily happening anytime soon — the GenAI algorithms can only help the robot understand my commands.
We also need algorithms to teach it how to do these chores, programs that allow AI agents to safely perform actions like watering plants without soiling them, unloading dishes from the dishwasher without breaking anything, and ironing clothes without burning down the house.
Unitree Robotics G1 Humanoid Robot: types of movements. Image courtesy of Unitree
Such a robot would also need a slightly larger battery to last longer, it would need a secure operating system with privacy at its core, it would need to process almost everything on-device – on the high-end chips that power the AI functions, and it would need to connect, work with and be managed by the rest of the smart home system.
Finally, we need a longer shelf life – the 8-month warranty on the Unitree G1 is not enough – and we need to be able to easily get the robot repaired when parts fail. As for the software, we need to be able to support updates to add AI capabilities to the robot for years to come.
My point is that the $16,000 robot in the video above is just a concept for a very cool first generation humanoid robot. It might be good for certain activities, but it's unlikely to do any household chores. But it won't be long until tech companies release humanoid robots that can provide some of the features I mentioned above. In that regard, I sincerely hope that Apple's rumored $1,000 desktop iPad-like AI robot is the first step towards humanoid robots coming out of Cupertino.
