The human behind it

Tau Robotics, based in San Francisco, sends small humanoid robots, about 1.37 metres tall, to clean people's homes. A reporter from MIT Technology Review booked two visits. Most of the work was done by a human pilot at the company's headquarters, who watched through cameras in the robot's head and wrists.

This is called teleoperation. When making beds and folding laundry, the pilot performs the movement and the robot copies it. Each visit produces training data for future robots that will have to manage on their own. Vacuuming and mopping already work without help, the company says.

The first visit ended early: the heat caused the pilot's equipment to fail, and without a pilot the robot does not clean. Only a few hundred cleaning jobs have been done so far.

For now, the robot does not replace work. It moves it, from the home to a screen somewhere else. But the movements people demonstrate today become data for a robot that will later have to do the job alone.

Who will profit from the work you show a robot how to do?