Robots at home: who is already working, and who is still posing at trade shows

What companies promise at home

In 2026 humanoid makers increasingly aim their offers at households: the tasks the robots are meant to take over are dishes, laundry, tidying objects and simple kitchen work. Below we check which of these promises are already on sale and which are in pre-order or pilot.

In Poland, the market has an extra backdrop. The country has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the EU (3.4 percent in July 2026 according to Eurostat, the second-lowest in the Union: Polskie Radio; the GUS registered rate for August 2026 was 5.8 percent, GUS data of 23 September 2026, via money.pl), and employers in many physical trades cannot find people. That includes care for the elderly, as we write in “Humanoid Robots and the Polish Labor Market”.

And here the most important thing must be said right away: a household helper robot is not a product you can buy in Poland today. You can buy a companion robot, a camera on wheels, or a toy with AI. A robot that will fold your laundry you will, for now, see only in videos.

Candidates for the role of home helper

1X NEO. The robot from the Norwegian-American company 1X Technologies was unveiled on October 28, 2025, and aimed squarely at households. The 1X NEO weighs about 30 kg, has hands with 22 degrees of freedom, a stated static load capacity above 68 kg, and about 25 kg when carrying (1X). You can get it for USD 20,000 (about PLN 77,500 (≈ EUR 17,730 at NBP rate 4.3716 of 20 October 2026); the Early Access version with priority delivery in 2026 in the USA) or on subscription for USD 499 a month; a reservation takes a refundable USD 200 deposit (1X order page). The manufacturer announces deliveries to other markets from 2027 (1X). The heart of the controversy is teleoperation: in “Expert Mode” a 1X expert remotely supervises the robot at agreed times (1X), and according to press reports does so wearing VR goggles (Road to VR). The user can restrict the robot from certain rooms, and the system blurs people's likenesses (Road to VR), but then a human is looking at your kitchen and wardrobe. Full description: “1X Neo Home Robot on Pre-Order”.

Weave Isaac 1. The Weave Isaac 1 (Weave Robotics) moves on wheels, has a torso adjustable from roughly 90 to 175 cm (3 ft to 5 ft 9 in), 21 degrees of freedom, two arms with two-finger grippers and a soft textile covering (Weave Robotics). The cameras in the head have physical shutters that show whether the cameras are active (The Robot Report). The battery lasts about 8 hours. Tasks: folding laundry, tidying toys, making beds. The price is USD 7,999 (about PLN 31,000 (≈ EUR 7,090)) or USD 449 a month, but the first deliveries in autumn 2026 are planned in California, with wider US availability following through 2027 (Weave Robotics). It is a wheeled robot, and the manufacturer does not claim it can climb stairs.

Sunday Robotics Memo. The Sunday Robotics Memo (Sunday Robotics) usually works at a height of about 120 cm (4 ft) and reaches up to about 2.1 m (7 ft) with its arms extended; its tasks are narrow and concrete: washing dishes, brewing coffee, folding socks. The current hand-built unit costs about USD 20,000 (about PLN 77,500 (≈ EUR 17,730)), and the manufacturer expects to cut costs by at least half once series production starts (Sunday). Memo is not yet on sale; the company is collecting applications for a beta program. It is the most honest approach: not a “robot for everything”, but a robot for the dishwasher.

Second-tier candidates. The The Bot Company Household Robot is a still-unnamed project by Kyle Vogt, the former CEO of Cruise; the company The Bot has raised more than USD 150 million (Forbes). The company has given no price or sales date. The LG CLOiD (LG Electronics) was shown at CES 2026: a wheeled base, two arms with seven degrees of freedom each, five independently actuated fingers per hand (LG); LG's release gives no price or sales date. The fate of the Samsung Ballie is instructive: the spherical assistant, shown since CES 2020, disappeared from Samsung's US site in February 2026, and the company now calls it an “active innovation platform” rather than a product (9to5Google).

How such robots are built in the first place is explained in “How Does a Humanoid Robot Work”, and degrees of freedom in “Degrees of Freedom (DOF) in Humanoid Robots”.

What you can buy right now

Companions. The Loona Petbot (KEYi Technology) is an interactive wheeled robot with a camera and microphone, controlled by an app. In the USA the Premium version costs USD 499 (KEYi), and in Poland it is at x-kom (PLN 2,499 (≈ EUR 570) on the day we checked, 2 October 2026), at Media Expert and on Kaufland.pl; shop prices differ by a few hundred złoty. It is one of the few home robots with confirmed availability in the country. Smaller models such as Eilik or EMO also suit a desk and children, though we have not confirmed an official Polish distributor.

The Sony aibo ERS-1000 (Sony Group) is a companion dog with 22 axes of motion and a personality developed in the cloud: in the USA it cost USD 2,899.99 (about PLN 11,200 (≈ EUR 2,560)) with a three-year cloud plan, after which the plan is paid separately; according to the AFP news agency, it now retails above USD 3,000 in the USA. On 25 June 2026 Sony announced the end of aibo sales in Japan once stock runs out, promising continued technical support and cloud plans (AFP via The Star). You cannot buy it officially in Poland.

Monitoring and assistance. The Amazon Astro (Amazon.com) is a wheeled robot with a periscope camera and the Alexa assistant, for home monitoring; the launch price was USD 999.99 (Engadget), and the current price is not clearly confirmed in the sources. The Enabot EBO SE is a mobile 1080p camera (Enabot); we have not confirmed a Polish seller. For seniors there is the ElliQ (Intuition Robotics), a stationary companion that proactively starts a conversation, reminds about medication and lets the family make video calls; according to the manufacturer it is available only in the USA, on subscription (ElliQ), so check the price list with the manufacturer.

What cannot be done yet

A home robot is harder than a factory one. A factory is repetitive, and your kitchen is not. Every cup stands somewhere different, a rug changes the height of the floor, and a child can appear out of nowhere. That is why manufacturers define tasks narrowly (dishes, laundry, toys), and some of these are taught to the robot by remote operators. Nobody has independently shown, so far, that a robot actually performs such tasks in customers' homes: 1X has no confirmed delivery to a customer's home, and the Isaac 1 has deliveries only in autumn 2026.

The second problem is privacy. Cameras in the apartment, microphones, and sometimes a person on the other end are not a detail. We discuss this in “Data Security: Robots with Cameras and the GDPR”. When buying anything with a camera, check for a physical shutter, off-limits zones, data storage, and whether the robot works without the cloud.

How much it costs

Converted (at the NBP average rate of 1 October 2026, PLN 3.8762 per USD, NBP): the Isaac 1 about PLN 31,000 (≈ EUR 7,090), the NEO and Memo about PLN 77,500 (≈ EUR 17,730), the aibo about PLN 11,200 (≈ EUR 2,560), the Loona about PLN 2,000–2,500 (≈ EUR 455–570). Subscriptions come on top: the paid cloud plan for the aibo, USD 449–499 a month for a humanoid subscription. For a helper at PLN 77,500 (≈ EUR 17,730), work out how many hours of your household labor it really replaces. We show the method in “Humanoid Robot TCO: How to Calculate Total Cost”, and a broader price list in “How Much Does a Humanoid Robot Cost in 2026”.

Funding: Poland's robotization tax relief (ulga na robotyzację) applies to taxpayers running a business, not households; a private buyer cannot use it (podatki.gov.pl). Only if the robot is used in a business (for example short-term rentals) does the question of deductions need to be discussed with an adviser.

Where to buy

For now: electronics chains and comparison sites for companion robots, and for humanoids a waiting list with the manufacturer and private import, with the risk of customs duties, no service and no Polish warranty. We do not buy blind: before paying a deposit, check whether the manufacturer ships to Poland and who will handle a breakdown. We track the market in “Humanoid Robot Market Forecasts” and in the categories “Home robots” and humanoid robots. On the horizon are also “Tesla Optimus: What We Actually Know (as of September 2026)” and “Figure 03: What We Know About Figure AI's Third-Generation Robot”, both projects that began with factories.

Summary

In 2026 the home gained a companion robot, but not a helper. If you want to buy something today, pick the Loona for the kids or wait for availability in Europe. If you dream of a laundry robot, join the waiting list, but do not assume it will be standing in your hallway in 2027: the first units are going to California, and the answer to the privacy questions has not yet matured.