Maybe robots don't need legs or fingers to do laundry — Weave Robotics Isaac 1 isn't pretty or super-humanoid, but it might be ready to handle basic chores | Tech Radar
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Maybe robots don't need legs or fingers to do laundry — Weave Robotics Isaac 1 isn't pretty or super-humanoid, but it might be ready to handle basic chores
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It promises to autonomously handle basic household chores
The roughly $8,000, legless robot arrives in the US first
With its Baymax-esque face, cool hues, and mostly soft body rolling on a wheeled base, Weave Isaac 1 cuts a distinct figure from most humanoid robots. It's just cute/homely enough to attract the robot-curious while avoiding the dangerous uncanny valley of, say, UBTech UWorld U1.
That's probably a good thing. Weave, which has been building robots like this for a few years, is finally ready to fully commercialize its offerings with the
Its features can be boiled down to household drudgery you probably hate to do, including:
Finding and picking up "dirty" clothes (it's not clear it knows how they are dirty)
Folding and putting away the clean clothes (missing here is setting up and running the washing machine or dryer)
It's a good list, but despite Isaac 1's autonomous capabilities, also limited. So much so that Weave Robotics promises teleoperation to help it complete some tasks. For anything you want it to do, you launch it in a connected smartphone app. After that, it rises up from a 3ft tall crouch at its charging base to its full 5 ft 9 in height and rolls out to get the job done.
In the launch video, Isaac appears to move slowly and methodically, but it might be a bit steadier than, say, the likes of Tesla Optimus, Neo Beta, Unitree G1, and Figure 03, all of which are built to replicate human bipedal walking. Those robots get better and better at walking, running, and dancing, but, as we've seen, they can be more unpredictable.
Jake Dyson explains his vision for robots in your home — humanoid and otherwise
Humanoid robots won’t be the future: purpose-built robots will
I just watched a Chinese robot make the worst eggs I've ever seen and I'm a little less worried about robots taking our jobs
In addition, all those extra actuators and sensors required for walking tend to make these bots more expensive (they can run from
While Isaac 1 is ready to fold your laundry, it will do so without the use of fingers. Instead, Isaac 1 will manage laundry and other chores with a couple of orange claws (and reportedly run for eight hours on a charge). The rest of the body is covered in soft, removable body plates in muted colors like Sage, Gray, Slate Blue, Terracotta, and Vesper.
Like other robotics companies, Weave Robotics is offering a subscription plan:
Isaac 1 won't ever be mistaken for a human, but perhaps that's the point. In the rush to recreate and automate humanity, most robotics companies seem to have forgotten that humans respond best to other real, flesh-and-blood humans and, at a fundamental level, reject artifice and hardware that resembles but can never be us.
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A 38-year industry veteran and award-winning journalist, Lance has covered technology since PCs were the size of suitcases and “on line” meant “waiting.” He’s a former Lifewire Editor-in-Chief, Mashable Editor-in-Chief, and, before that, Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for Ziff Davis, Inc. He also wrote a popular, weekly tech column for Medium called The Upgrade.
Lance Ulanoff makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Live with Kelly and Mark, the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNBC, CNN, and the BBC.
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