Robots at home: the complete guide to what they do, what they cost and what to check

Robots that do one job on one kind of surface do real work in many homes today: they vacuum and mop floors, mow lawns, clean pools and wash windows, and the examples on this page cost from about €160 to about €1,400 on the makers’ official shops on 31 October 2026. Robots that fold laundry or do general housework, humanoids included, are still mostly promises: apart from one stationary laundry folder its maker says it is shipping in California, the few you can reserve are US pre-orders, and their makers say a person working for them helps from a distance when the robot cannot finish a task.

In between sit companion robots for older people and robot dogs: real products, each with a narrow job. This guide takes every kind in turn: what it does and does not do, what the maker charges and what to check. The products named are examples, not picks, and the site has not tried any of them. The page is checked every month.

Which robots do a real job at home today?

Robot	What it does today	What it does not do	Examples on the makers’ sites, 31 Oct 2026	Status
Robot vacuum and mop	Vacuums and mops floors	Climb stairs; cope with cluttered floors	€159.99 to €1,049 (16 models)	On sale
Robot lawn mower	Cuts the grass inside an area you set	Mow slopes steeper than stated	€599 to €1,399	On sale
Pool robot	Cleans the floor, on some models walls and waterline	Walls, on floor-only models	€349 to €849	On sale
Window robot	Wipes flat glass, held on by suction	Move to the next window by itself (not stated)	€299 to €599	On sale
Companion robot (ElliQ)	Talks, reminds, suggests activities	Any physical help	No price read	US partners; Europe not mentioned
Robot dog (Unitree Go2)	Walks, films, follows its owner (Pro and X)	Household tasks (none listed)	$1,600 to $4,500 before tax	Price listed; EU delivery not stated
Stationary laundry folder (Weave Isaac 0)	Folds clothes and towels	Fold large blankets and bed sheets; fold every garment without remote help	$3,999 plus $49 a month, or $249 a month	Shipping in California, Weave says
Mobile chore robots (1X NEO, Weave Isaac 1)	Promised: laundry, tidying	Finish every task alone	$7,999 and $20,000	US pre-order
Humanoids for the home (Figure 03, Tesla Optimus)	Shown in announcements	Be ordered	No public price	Not for sale

Method: prices on each maker’s own site on 31 October 2026, often promotions; dollar prices are US prices before sales tax. Sources are in the sections below.

Robot vacuums and mops: what do they do, and what do they cost?

A robot vacuum sucks up dust, crumbs and hair, and most models also mop hard floors. On 31 October 2026 the 16 models in our robot vacuum buying guide cost from €159.99, for a Xiaomi with a plain charging base, to €1,049, for an Ecovacs whose station empties the dust without a bag and washes the mop in hot water, on the makers’ official Italian shops. Most of the difference is in the docking station, from one that only charges to one that also empties the robot and washes the mops.

What it does not do: none of the 16 climbs stairs, and floors covered in cables, socks and toys are hard for all of them. Someone still empties the bin or changes the bag, handles the water tanks, and buys filters, pads and detergent, listed at about €10 to €45 each that day.

What to check: your door sills against the maximum height the maker states, the space under sofas and beds, whether you want a camera, what the station does and where it will stand, and the price of spare parts. What the map and the camera record is covered in Does my robot vacuum have a camera?.

Robot lawn mowers: do they still need a wire?

Not all of them. A robot lawn mower cuts the grass a little at a time inside an area you set, and drives back to its base to charge. What changes is how it knows where the lawn ends. There are three ways, shown with examples from the makers’ Italian pages on 31 October 2026.

A wire around the lawn. A cable pegged along the edge marks the boundary, and the mower stays inside it. Gardena’s SILENO minimo 250 m² comes with 150 m of perimeter wire and 150 pegs, and is set up with a Bluetooth app; its page shows no price.
Satellites, corrected in real time. RTK (real-time kinematic positioning) compares the satellite signals with those picked up by a reference station whose position is known, and corrects the difference, so the mower knows where it is to within a few centimeters. Husqvarna’s page on wire-free mowers describes its EPOS system as “un sistema RTK-GNSS che consente una precisione centimetrica” (“an RTK-GNSS system that allows centimeter precision”, GNSS being the general name for satellite positioning such as GPS), generally within 5 cm, and you draw the boundary in the app by driving the mower around the lawn. Its Automower 308V, for lawns up to 800 m², cost €1,399 in a promotion (previous price €1,649) and has a camera to spot objects on the grass. Husqvarna says it needs Wi-Fi or mobile internet over the whole lawn, or else a mobile connection kit or a separate EPOS reference station, which works without internet. Ecovacs’s GOAT O800 RTK, €599, uses an RTK station with a signal pole, plus a 3D lidar and a camera for obstacles.
Lasers and cameras, no satellites. Ecovacs’s GOAT A1600 LiDAR Pro, €999, finds its way with two lidars, lasers that measure distances, and a camera; its page says no physical cables need to be installed and does not mention RTK for this model.

Satellite models depend on what is above the lawn: the Automower 308V page says wire-free mowers need an open view of the sky to receive satellite signals, and the page on wire-free mowers adds that bad weather interfering with the satellites can temporarily affect performance. If parts of your lawn sit under trees or close to walls, ask the seller how the model copes there.

What it does not do: mow slopes steeper than the maker states. Ecovacs gives 45% for the O800 RTK and 50% for the A1600; Gardena gives 25% inside the area and 10% along the wire for the SILENO minimo. Theft protection varies: the Automower 308V has a PIN code and an alarm, including when it is moved outside a set area, but no GPS theft tracking.

What to check: lawn area and steepest slope against the maker’s figures, how the boundary is set, what connection the mower needs, theft protection, and the cost of blades.

Pool robots: what do they clean?

A pool robot sinks to the bottom, drives across the floor and, on some models, climbs the walls up to the waterline, sucking dirt into a filter. Two battery models on Aiper’s EU shop on 31 October 2026, both discounted:

The Scuba E1, €349 (was €399) and marked “Phase out” in the shop, cleans only the floor of above-ground pools of up to about 100 m², for up to about 100 minutes per charge, according to its product page.
The Scuba X1, €849 (was €1,299), cleans the floor, walls and waterline of in-ground pools of up to about 200 m², for up to 180 minutes, according to its product page.

The shop adds that the “Final price and VAT may change based on shipping destination at checkout.”

What it does not do: a floor-only model leaves the walls to you, and you lift both out of the water with the hook supplied, helped on the X1 by what Aiper calls smart retrieval.

What to check: pool type and size, whether you need the walls cleaned, run time, how the robot comes out of the water, and how long the maker promises security updates for its app (see below).

Window robots: do they really work?

On flat, smooth glass, yes, one pane at a time. Ecovacs says in its WINBOT FAQ that the robot holds onto the glass by suction and follows a planned route, detecting frames and obstacles. Two examples from Ecovacs’s Italian shop on 31 October 2026:

The WINBOT mini 2, €299, runs plugged in through a 4.7 m power cable, with a small built-in battery that Ecovacs says keeps it on the glass for more than 30 minutes if the power goes off, comes with a 3.3 m safety rope, works on windows from 25 × 25 cm and sprays a fine mist from a tank of about 50 ml.
The WINBOT W3 Omni, €599, adds a station of about 10 kg and a battery Ecovacs rates at up to 130 minutes of cleaning.

What it does not do: the FAQ asks for glass that is smooth and free of stickers, cracks, oil or condensation, and says the robot performs optimally on windows up to 8 m wide and 2.5 m high. Neither product page says the robot moves to the next window by itself. For high windows there is the safety rope, and the FAQ says a backup battery keeps the robot on the glass for over 30 minutes if the main one runs out.

What to check: the type and size of your glass, its frames, where you will tie the safety rope on an upper floor, and the charging time, about 3 hours according to Ecovacs.

Companion and care robots: what can they do for an older person?

Keep company and remind, not care in the physical sense. One example, ElliQ, is described by its maker, Intuition Robotics, as “The AI care companion robot for older adults”. The company says it holds ongoing conversations, remembers past ones, tracks goals such as drinking enough water or memory exercises, and starts conversations on its own, using “speech, body language, text, images, lights and sounds”. Its home page lists partners in the United States, among them a health plan and an Area Agency on Aging in Broward County, Florida, and says nothing about Europe. ElliQ’s own shop, elliq.com, did not let its pages be read on the day of the check, so this page gives no price.

The same home page shows the figure “95% reduction in loneliness” without saying who measured it, how, over what period or among how many people. It is the maker’s own claim, not the result of a published trial cited on the page.

What it does not do: the maker describes talking, showing and reminding, not lifting, washing or helping someone move. A robot that talks is not a carer. For help at home the options remain people and public services: calls and visits from family, home care, and the telecare alarm services many local authorities offer. A doctor or social worker can say which fits.

What to check: what the robot records (voice, conversations, health information) and where it is kept, who in the family sees the updates, the cost of the subscription, and how easy it is to switch off.

Robot dogs: what are they for?

Mostly for play, research and curiosity. China’s Unitree lists its four-legged Go2 at $1,600 (Air), $2,800 (Pro) and $4,500 (X) on 31 October 2026, with “Tax and freight excluded” and the EDU version for developers sold on request. As an indicative estimate with Italian VAT, that is about €1,700, €3,100 and €4,900. It walks and runs, streams video from its camera to an app, and on the Pro and X follows its owner and takes voice commands, with about 1 to 2 hours of battery life.

What it does not do: the page lists no household task. Unitree is frank about the limits: “Limited to the current technique and computing power resources, part of function shall be realized human operation or secondary development”, which means some features need a person driving it or an owner who programs it. The page describes the Go2 as “a civilian robot” and does not say whether it is delivered to the EU.

What to check: delivery to your country, warranty (6 months on the Air, 12 on the others), who repairs it, and what its camera and app send.

Method, here and in the next section: dollar price converted at the ECB euro reference rate of Friday 30 October 2026, the latest on the day of the check (1 euro = 1.1172 dollars), plus Italy’s 22% standard VAT rate, rounded to the nearest hundred euros for purchases and ten euros for monthly fees. An indicative estimate, not an Italian price; shipping and duties are extra.

Can a robot fold laundry or do the housework yet?

Mostly promised, in the United States, with a person helping from a distance. Where three makers stand on 31 October 2026:

1X NEO, a humanoid robot. The order page offers it at $20,000 to own or $499 a month, about €21,800 or €540 as an indicative estimate, with a $200 deposit it calls “Fully Refundable”, and reads “US Deliveries start 2026”. It shows “Laundry” among the tasks, says NEO “arrives with basic autonomy for early owners”, and that “an Expert from 1X can remotely supervise its actions at scheduled times to help it learn new abilities”. Neither that page nor 1X’s news page, latest post 9 July 2026, announced a delivery to a customer; 1X NEO explained has the full record.
Weave Isaac 1, a mobile home robot. Weave’s Isaac 1 page lists it at $7,999 or $449 a month, about €8,700 or €490, with a $250 deposit it calls fully refundable. It promises to pick up, fold and put away clothes, make beds and put toys and shoes back, “with teleoperation assistance when needed to guarantee we complete tasks”. First shipments are due in fall 2026 in California, with more of the US through 2027. Weave’s pre-order agreement says that paying the deposit “does not constitute a commitment by Weave to deliver a Device”. Weave’s earlier robot, Isaac 0, is a stationary laundry folder that Weave says is “Already shipping”: “Shipments have started for California residents”, in “limited quantities”, of what it calls an “early-release prototype”. It costs $3,999 up front plus $49 a month, about €4,400 plus €50 a month, or $249 a month, about €270. Weave says it folds T-shirts, hoodies, pants, towels and pillowcases but not yet large blankets or bed sheets, and that it “blends autonomy with teleoperation (remote assistance by a Weave specialist)”.
Figure 03, a humanoid announced on 9 October 2025. Figure’s home page says it “handles household tasks the way you would”, but shows no price and no order page.

Tesla’s Optimus cannot be bought or reserved, and Elon Musk expects factories first and homes later (Tesla Optimus explained). The humanoids you can order outright, from Unitree in China, come without a list of chores, as Can you buy a humanoid robot? shows.

Why chores are hard for robots is explained in What is embodied AI?; the humanoid robots guide and the humanoid robot tracker follow every humanoid, its price and its status.

Who sees inside your home, and what if the maker shuts down?

Most of these robots carry sensors and talk to the maker’s servers. Robot vacuums map the home, some with cameras; the 1X NEO adds microphones, and a remote operator guiding a robot sees through its sensors. What is recorded, where it goes and which settings limit it are covered in Does my robot vacuum have a camera? and in Home robots, cameras and remote operators.

A connected robot also depends on its maker staying in business. On 6 October 2025 Neato announced “We are now phasing out Neato cloud services”. It explains that Neato closed in 2023 and that Vorwerk, which kept the cloud running afterwards, could no longer maintain it reliably under current security and regulatory standards. The robots keep working manually, it says, with one button press for a full clean; it describes no other use.

Check too how long the maker promises security fixes, its security support period. Few product pages state it. Aiper’s EU security support policy does, model by model: for the Scuba X1 Pro, for example, it lists updates from its launch on 15 July 2026 to 15 July 2027, and for the Aiper app until 8 January 2031; the Scuba E1 and X1 named above are not on the list. In the EU, the Cyber Resilience Act requires connected products to be “designed, updated, and maintained” with security in mind, according to the European Commission; its reporting obligations apply from 11 September 2026 and its main obligations from 11 December 2027, so robots on sale today may not yet be built to it.

How much electricity do home robots use?

A few kilowatt-hours a month, by the makers’ own figures for two lawn mowers. Husqvarna states 5.5 kWh a month at maximum use for the Automower 308V, and Gardena 2.1 kWh a month for the SILENO minimo. None of the 16 robot vacuum pages in the buying guide states yearly electricity use.

Which EU rules apply?

Any robot sold in the EU has to carry CE marking, the maker’s declaration that it meets the EU rules that apply to it, and the European Commission says this “also applies to products made in other countries that are sold in the EEA”. The new EU Machinery Regulation applies “on a mandatory basis as of 20 January 2027”, according to the Commission, and adds rules for safety functions that rely on AI; whether it covers a given home robot depends on the product, as Can you buy a humanoid robot? explains. The GDPR, the EU data protection law, applies to the maker that handles your data, as the robot vacuum privacy guide explains. If you import a robot yourself, ask the seller for the EU declaration of conformity, and a customs broker about the charges.

What should you check before buying any home robot?

That the job matches your home: floor, lawn, pool or glass, measured against what the maker states.
What you will still do by hand: emptying, refilling, carrying it.
What it needs to work: Wi-Fi, mobile coverage, an account, a reference station.
What it can do without the internet, and what happens if the maker’s servers stop.
How long the maker promises security updates, and where it says so.
What the cameras and microphones record, and whether a person at the maker can ever connect.
The running costs: spare parts, blades, filters, subscriptions.
That the seller is the maker’s official or authorized shop, with warranty and returns where you live.

Where to go next

How to choose a robot vacuum and mop: criteria and a dated table.
Does my robot vacuum have a camera?: maps, cameras and settings.
Home robots, cameras and remote operators: who can see inside your home.
Can you buy a humanoid robot for your home?: prices, deliveries and deposits.
Humanoid robots: the complete guide and the humanoid robot tracker: every humanoid and its status.
The smart home, explained: how connected devices at home fit together.

Common questions

Is a robot vacuum worth it for an apartment?

It depends on the apartment and on what you expect, more than on its size. A robot vacuum keeps floors tidy between deeper cleans when the floor is mostly clear, the door sills are lower than the height the maker states, and someone empties the bin and washes the mops. On 31 October 2026 the 16 models in the buying guide cost from €159.99 to €1,049 on the makers' official Italian shops.

Can I buy a robot that folds laundry?

Not in Europe. In California, Weave sells Isaac 0, a stationary laundry folder it calls an early-release prototype, at $3,999 plus $49 a month or $249 a month, with remote help from a Weave specialist. Weave also takes US pre-orders for Isaac 1, a mobile robot that picks up, folds and puts away clothes, at $7,999, with first deliveries in California promised for fall 2026. 1X shows laundry among the tasks of its NEO humanoid, also a US pre-order. Both makers say a remote human operator helps when the robot cannot finish a task.

Do robot lawn mowers need a perimeter wire?

Not all of them. Some still follow a wire pegged around the lawn. Others use satellite positioning corrected by a nearby reference station (RTK), or lasers and cameras, and you draw the boundary in an app. Wire-free satellite models need a clear view of the sky, and some need Wi-Fi or mobile internet over the whole lawn.

Are there robots for elderly people living alone?

There are companion robots such as ElliQ, which its maker describes as a care companion that talks, remembers past conversations and suggests activities and goals. Its maker lists US partners and says nothing about Europe. These robots talk and remind; they do not lift, wash or move a person, so family, home care services and telecare alarms remain the main sources of help.

Do home robots need Wi-Fi?

It depends on the robot. Robot vacuums usually need Wi-Fi and the maker's servers for the app, the map and updates. Ecovacs says its WINBOT window robots work without Wi-Fi, started from a button. Husqvarna's wire-free Automower 308V needs Wi-Fi or mobile internet over the whole lawn, or a separate reference station.

What happens to my robot if the maker shuts down its servers?

The app features that depend on the maker's servers can stop. When Neato announced on 6 October 2025 that it was phasing out its cloud services, it said its robots would keep working manually, with a button press for a full clean. Before buying, check what the robot does without the internet and how long the maker promises security updates.

Topics: robotics, home robots, guide, everyday questions