How Close Are We To Robots That Actually Do Chores?

Humanoid robots seem to be going mainstream, appearing on stage with Elon Musk, Jensen Huang and all over CES 2026. But in reality, humanoids are often still tele-operated by humans. And they’re far from ready for mass deployment in the home, where unpredictabilities like kids and pets also raise the stakes for privacy and safety concerns. Still, companies like 1X in the U.S. and Unitree in China are now selling AI home robots for $20,000 and up. CNBC went to the 2nd annual Humanoid Summit in California and CES to find out if home robots will be stuck in demo mode for years to come.

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
1:29 Hype vs. reality
5:38 Stuck in demo mode
8:33 China and early adoption

Produced and Shot by: Katie Tarasov
Edited by: Evan Lee Miller
Additional Camera: Marc Ganley
Senior Director of Video: Jeniece Pettitt
Editorial Support and Camera: Kif Leswing
Additional Footage: 1X, Agility Robotics, Apptronix, Boston Dynamics, Figure AI, Getty Images, LG, Neo, Nvidia, Tesla, UBTech, Unitree, Weave Robotics, XPeng

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How Close Are We To Robots That Actually Do Chores?