For $30 an hour, a humanoid robot will clean your San Francisco apartment while a remote operator controls it from elsewhere.
Tech startup Tau Robotics opened the service this week to selected applicants in the city. CEO and co-founder Alex Koch said that the company is mainly targeting people who currently skip professional cleaners altogether.
The robots are not autonomous. Because current AI models cannot operate a humanoid on their own, a remote human operator controls each one from a central location, with AI assisting along the way.
Company footage shows the machines at work, cleaning tables, vacuuming floors, washing dishes, taking out the trash, and getting rid of clutter, including a clip of a robot climbing out of a minivan with cleaning tools before a job.
The three-part setup
While the stated long-term goal is a humanoid that can clean a whole house cheaply enough to put the service within reach of people who never considered it, for now it’s a robot, a remote operator, and a minivan.
The process is not entirely remote, though. Reports indicate that a company employee also accompanies the robot on-site to supervise each visit and assist with physical navigation.
Social media reaction to the announcement and ensuing company footage was swift and mixed. Several users on X (formerly Twitter) initially mistook the robot for a person in a suit. “I literally thought this was a joke and it was a human getting out of the car,” one wrote, while another asked, “Lowkey thought it was a human in a robot suit (is it?).”
Supporters called the demo “amazing” and “incredible,” and some immediately wanted to book a visit. Critics were less convinced. “$ 30/hour is too much,” an X user replied, and another observed, “This is a human house cleaner with extra steps.”
It’s worth noting that the service involves significant data collection, as the robots rely on camera feeds from their heads and wrists to facilitate remote control. This model has drawn scrutiny regarding how this video data is stored, retained, and protected.
The service is currently invite-only, but the company offers those without one to join the waitlist on their official website, tau-robotics.com.
Sources: Tau Robotics, X (formerly Twitter), ABC 7