The first batch of people who bought robots to do housework are in despair.

If you're bored, buy a robot and let it cause trouble at home.

It can precisely avoid all the correct routes and directly crash into your shiny mirror. With a "bang", it's the mirror that breaks, but it's your wallet that aches...

This is not the only case of causing trouble. Autonomous robots are still too "self - willed".

The legendary programmer John Carmack said:

It's better to sell remote household services than autonomous household humanoid robots.

Carmack has this idea because a newly launched sweater - wearing humanoid robot NEO by 1X Technologies is sold with remote services.

It can perform actions such as folding clothes and fetching water, but it doesn't act autonomously. Instead, it's remotely controlled by a person wearing a VR headset.

Carmack believes that the way of remote household operation is more practical. The workload of the operator can be flexibly adjusted according to the autonomy of the robot. Moreover, this can collect training data for the robot in real - world scenarios, allowing the robot to gradually gain autonomy. It's also a way to improve the performance of the robot.

People who bought the robot home are going crazy

The reason why autonomous robots are "targeted" is that they've been causing trouble for a long time.

Besides running amok, if you let it into the kitchen, the situation will be even worse. Not only will it scatter the vegetables all over the floor, but it may also crash into the cabinet in a panic and break its "head" into pieces...

The most amazing thing is that after making a mess of the house, it even says "Daddy chill" to you... Who can stay calm then!

However, the guy who brought this thing home later realized: Did I really spend $80,000 on this???

It seems that he has calmed down, but actually, he's really out of ideas. (doge)

Of course, netizens who like to watch the fun have also come to mock and comfort:

However, some people also said: I want it!

Despite the complaints, the problem of the disconnection between price and practicality exposed behind is also worthy of attention.

Robots are on pre - sale

Judging from the current technology, the autonomy of current household robots is really disappointing, and the user experience is relatively poor. They can't even avoid obstacles or complete simple cooking well, let alone meet the diverse practical needs of the family.

As Carmack said, some people support the launch of remote - controlled assistants. When needed, a professional can operate it, and when not in use, the robot can be "hidden" to reduce its presence.

Take NEO for example. It costs $20,000 to buy, and $500 per month to rent. If you rent it home and let it and its operator work 8 hours a day, it's like hiring a household nanny at $2 per hour... What more could you ask for.

However, some people aren't convinced and directly say: It's better to just order a real person around. The meaning of a robot lies in complete autonomy.

Some enterprises regard household robots as a "money - making tool" and start pre - sales.

Well, still talking about NEO. You can pay now, but the product will be delivered in 2026.

Letting consumers pay for a non - existent product and using consumers' money for development, will the final result be worthy of the price?

For consumers, when facing emerging technological products like household robots, many people lack a clear evaluation standard and are easily misled by the manufacturers' publicity.

Merchants' slogans like "Hands - free" and "Smart and convenient" have tempted many people. As a result, when they buy it home, they find that the product doesn't match the description and it can even fall on flat ground. (doge)

Riding on the wave of the AI era, more and more people buy household robots with the expectation of improving their quality of life, but finally get frustrated because of the high price and low performance.

So, when will household robots be good to use without any pitfalls? Which is better, autonomy or remote control?

Reference links:

[1]https://x.com/TheLizVariant/status/1985165538834932017

[2]https://x.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1985390721315324380

This article is from the WeChat official account “QbitAI”. Author: Wen Le. Republished by 36Kr with permission.