Roborock\u2019s Saros Rover can climb stairs, but it sure looks silly doing it.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the wave of robot toys and pets<\/a>, from Ecovacs\u2019 fluffy puppy LilMilo to Tuya and Robopoet\u2019s Fuzozo, a Star Trek Tribble that has its own cellular connection so you can get AI-enabled emotional support on the go. Or FrontierX\u2019s Vex<\/a>, an autonomous robot camera that follows your pet around to both film \u2014 and edit \u2014 a video about their day. Someone\u2019s even made a real-life WALL-E<\/a>, which does\u2026 something. That one doesn\u2019t look all too practical, but it sure is cute. As for Samsung\u2019s cute projector bot Ballie, which was supposed to go on sale in 2025<\/a>, it\u2019s still MIA, and Samsung hasn\u2019t even mentioned it at this year\u2019s show so far.<\/p>\n It\u2019s neat that you can task a little robot with mowing your lawn or playing with your pet, but it\u2019s not quite the future we were promised by the likes of The Jetsons\u2019 Rosey the Robot, or Fantastic Four\u2019s H.E.R.B.I.E. It\u2019s not just that the new wave of CES announcements aren\u2019t the expressive humanoid robots that have long dominated science fiction, it\u2019s that they each only do one thing. Want a robot to vacuum your floors? You got it. But if you want your lawn mowed and pool cleaned too then that\u2019s not one robot, it\u2019s three \u2014 and a fourth if you want something that looks cute too.<\/p>\n The WALL-E-inspired Zeroth W1 looks cute, but doesn\u2019t do much. Image: Zeroth<\/p>\n This is echoing a trend we\u2019ve seen in industrial robotics for some time. Production lines and warehouses aren\u2019t yet adopting humanoid robots that move from task to task, but they are investing heavily in focused, specialized robots that can carry out a single task more efficiently than any human worker can. I\u2019ve seen that first hand: when I visited online grocery company Ocado<\/a>, whose robots handle online orders for Kroger across 14 US states, I saw robots for moving crates, packing bags, or loading trucks, but nothing that was designed to do more than one of those jobs.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you have a controlled environment that you can change and manipulate you\u2019re generally better off with a specific tool for a specific job,\u201d deputy CEO James Matthews told me, explaining that the \u201cadaptability\u201d central to the appeal of humanoid robots isn\u2019t a priority for Ocado, especially since any humanoid design bakes in many of the same limitations that hold humans themselves back.<\/p>\n Of course, that\u2019s all well and good in an industrial environment. If Ocado designs a single robot that\u2019s great at moving crates from one place to another, and another that can load those crates onto trolleys, it can still go ahead and build thousands of each to use worldwide, and make it cost-efficient to do so. The math feels a little different at home. If the great automated future involves buying eight different robots for eight different tasks, each more expensive than the appliance it\u2019s designed to replace, I\u2019m not sure how many people will sign up.<\/p>\n LG showed CLOiD slowly loading laundry, but it\u2019s still a prototype. Photo by Andru Marino \/ The Verge<\/p>\n The industry hasn\u2019t given up on the do-it-all bot just yet though. Boston Dynamics used this CES to unveil the production version of its humanoid Atlas<\/a>, which parent company Hyundai plans to roll out into its own factories. In the home, LG showed off its humanoid robot CLOiD with a live demonstration of it ponderously loading a towel into a washing machine<\/a>, while SwitchBot says its Onero H1<\/a>, which can apparently fold laundry and make breakfast, \u201crepresents a shift toward robotics that can adapt to a wide range of domestic scenarios.\u201d<\/p>\n But these are the outliers, and like Amazon\u2019s and Tesla\u2019s humanoid bots, they\u2019re still more hype than substance. Boston Dynamics\u2019 Atlas won\u2019t enter the workforce until 2028 \u2014 and its entirely static CES debut didn\u2019t inspire too much confidence. SwitchBot\u2019s Onero is supposedly close to launch, with preorders starting \u201csoon,\u201d but the live demos on its booth showed a slow, simple robot that\u2019s not ready to do your laundry yet.<\/p>\n LG\u2019s CLOiD is more impressive, but still a prototype, with no sign of a real release, and LG is still hedging its bets. CLOiD is only one part of its \u201cZero Labor Home\u201d vision, which it imagines will include networks of appliances that \u201coperate as a single AI system.\u201d That\u2019s a more realistic outlook, closer to what we already have than the fantasy of a cheerful android capable of taking over my chores.<\/p>\n We\u2019re still not close to Rosey the Robot running our homes, but in the meantime the robot revolution is coming one bot at a time.<\/p>\n Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Dominic PrestonClose Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All by Dominic Preston<\/a><\/p>\n CESCloseCES<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All CES<\/a><\/p>\n GadgetsCloseGadgets<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All Gadgets<\/a><\/p>\n RobotCloseRobot<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All Robot<\/a><\/p>\n Smart HomeCloseSmart Home<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n![\"Roborock\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/roborock-rover.jpg\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/w1-zeroth-1.jpg\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"LG](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/DSC01282.jpeg\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Dominic](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767741733_211_DOM_BLURPLE-1.jpg\"\/)
Dominic Preston<\/p>\n