A new kind of household help is being introduced in San Francisco, this time in the form of a robot. According to the report, a San Francisco robotics company is rolling out a new home cleaning service powered by a humanoid robot. The move places a humanoid machine directly into the routine of tidying up a home, a task usually handled by people.
The service centres on a humanoid robot rather than a simple appliance. As described in the report, the robots were shown working a vacuum, carrying out the cleaning in the way a person might. The use of a humanoid form factor is what sets the service apart from the automated cleaning devices already common in many homes.
The company outlined a range of tasks the robots are said to handle. According to the report, the company says the robots can not only vacuum, but they can also throw out the trash and wipe things off the floor. That combination of chores points to a service aimed at general household cleaning rather than a single function.
There is also a price attached to the offering. According to the report, the service will cost about 30 dollars an hour. The hourly rate gives an early sense of how the company is positioning the robot-powered cleaning against other options that customers might consider for the same work.
For now, the rollout is limited in scope. According to the report, the service is currently being tested in San Francisco. Keeping the launch within a single city allows the company to trial the robots in real homes before considering a wider release of the service.
The company has signalled ambitions beyond that initial test. According to the report, it hopes to expand access to the service in the near future. The rollout was presented as part of a broader conversation about humanoid robots moving into everyday household tasks, suggesting the cleaning service is one step in a larger push to put such machines to work in people's homes.