‘It’s the robot we were all expecting – like C3PO’: why aren’t humanoids in our homes yet?

Tesla and others are trying to infuse robots with artificial intelligence, yet their development is dogged by technical and safety challenges. But the dream of a multipurpose domestic droid lives on

In 2013, US robotics company Boston Dynamics revealed its new robot, Atlas. Unveiled at the Darpa Robotics Challenge, the 6ft 2in humanoid could walk on uneven ground, jump off boxes, and even climb stairs. It was like a vision frequently depicted in fiction: a robot designed to operate like us, able to take on all manner of everyday tasks. It seemed like the dawn of something. Robots were going to do all of our boring and arduous chores, and step up as elderly care workers to boot.

Since then, we’ve seen leaps forward in artificial intelligence (AI), from computer vision to machine learning. The recent wave of large language models and generative AI systems opens up new opportunities for human-computer interaction. But outside of research labs, physical robots remain largely restricted to factories and warehouses, performing very specific tasks, often behind a safety cage. Home robots are limited to vacuum cleaners and lawnmowers – not exactly Rosie the Robot.