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Dec 2, 2025

How far away are we from humanoid robots doing our chores?

Ken Goldberg, professor of engineering at UC Berkeley and co-founder of the AI robotics company Ambi Robotics, says home chores are that are easy for humans are often hard for robots to master.

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How far away are we from humanoid robots doing our chores?
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Robots are commonplace in factories, and increasingly in warehouses like those run by Amazon. But what about robots to help with household chores — so-called humanoids to load the dishwasher or fold the laundry?

To find out, we checked in with Ken Goldberg, professor of engineering at the Universuty of California, Berkeley, and co-founder of the AI robotics company Ambi Robotics. He spoke to Marketplace’s Nova Safo en route from a robotics conference in China.

More on this

“The Robot in Your Kitchen” from Time Magazine

“Why don't we have better robots yet?” from TedTalk

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Will humanoid robots really do our chores one day?