Humans are desperate to put the robots to work. The only problem is, the robots don’t “work” to any degree. These humanoid bots are interesting. Some are even cute. Few, if any, are anywhere close to prime time. It was a dour scene at CES 2026, so much so I can’t help but wonder if they ever will be.
The home robots that headlined past CES may already be on their way to the scrap heap. Last week, Bloomberg reported that Samsung’s famed Ballie home robot was effectively dead. The company offered a statement that the robot would “inform” how Samsung works with spatial awareness and smart home intelligence. The bot itself was nowhere to be found at CES 2026. Recent reports citing robot companies themselves question whether humanoid robots are the next big tech boondoggle. China, the one place that is definitely ahead of the rest of the world on robotics, officially cited a number of copycat companies making derivative, useless bots. The lingering question is whether any of the robots will be capable of doing anything useful.
The AGIBOT X2 doing kung-fu is pretty cute! #CES2026 pic.twitter.com/kpOLtmaJJX
— Ray Wong (@raywongy) January 6, 2026
Just as we predicted, CES 2026 was consumed with home robotics. What surprised us more was how many had the arms, heads, and even legs that companies hope will eventually replace us. Unfortunately, the robo-maids and robo-butlers are more likely to fall down on you or spin uncontrollably than fold your laundry. Throughout the entire show, when they weren’t being controlled remotely or working off choreographed moves, these robots flailed, fell down, and broke entirely on their own. It was a comical and embarrassing sight for attendees.
Why were all the bots constantly breaking down?
Murphy’s Law dictates that any live demo will inevitably be cursed with bad connections or gear that won’t work no matter how many times you tested it in the lab. The number of robots on the fritz at the CES show floor went beyond occasional issues. I visited SwitchBot’s booth the first day the CES show floor opened to check out its Onero H1 humanoid robot. The H1 is supposed to be a household device with two articulating arms and a cute, always-surprised face. It’s meant to handle tasks like feeding the dishwasher or brewing coffee. At the booth, a SwitchBot representative told me the Onero H1 was, unfortunately, not fully functioning. All it could do was spin back and forth like a confused toddler stuck in a playpen it had never seen before.
That’s not to say the humanoid robots remained broken throughout the entire show. When it was working, the H1 would slowly drag a shirt over to a washing machine, slowly open the door, and slowly stick it in. I strode over to LG’s booth to check out CLOiD, another home robot with articulating fingers built for chores like folding laundry. The bot was, indeed, gingerly pinching a stack of towels and folding each with agonizing lethargy. At one point, the CLOiD seemed to hiccup in its routine. A number of LG staff quickly surrounded the bot, and another jumped in front of me while I attempted to film it. The company likely managed to fix whatever existing issues were causing the disruption, as CLOiD was back later, folding a mountain of laundry with Sisyphean dedication.
Again and again, the bots at CES 2026 failed to perform autonomously. We’ve seen videos of robots doing dance routines and going stiff and falling down, only to become belligerent when they get back up. In a video where The Verge was showing off Zeroth’s Jupiter humanoid robot, the 170-pound device stopped working and flopped face forward directly onto journalist Jennifer Pattison Tuohy. Without anybody holding it up and directing it, these bots with lower appendages are more liable to sprawl on the ground when something malfunctions. Imagine if Tesla’s long-awaited, long-delayed Optimus 3 robot, specced at just over 125 pounds, suddenly decides to use your feet as its landing platform.
To keep these devices from crushing legs, these humanoid bots are better off on wheels. Intel rolled out a 6-foot-tall humanoid bot by RoBee with roller skates permanently attached to its feet. Other than moving at a slow pace, the robot powered by Intel’s latest Core Ultra Series 3 technology was mostly just a vehicle for a chatbot to talk to CES attendees. The other robots taking up space on the show floor were mostly stationary or stuck on wheels. One humanoid bot called TomO was stuck in place playing the piano one key at a time thanks to oddly articulating thumbs and fingers. More automatons by companies like Galbot could act as checkout clerks, using a suction cup to grab empty snack boxes and bring them to the counter.
Our favorite bots aren’t helping around the house
These are the kinds of capabilities we have seen in previous years. That’s not to say that staggered, regular advancement isn’t something to be applauded. Some robotics companies, like Sharpa, showed off bots capable of tracking a ping pong ball and hitting it back with only the occasional flub. Another one of the company’s bots could be the extremely slow dealer in a game of blackjack.
Apparently, the only thing these bots are good for is choreographed fights or for squaring up in the boxing ring. Unitree, one of the few companies that promises to sell a relatively affordable humanoid robot, brought out its boxing robots to the show floor. These bots are impressive, mostly for how well they respond to being knocked to the ground or stumble to survive a punch.
The technical work done on these devices is far more interesting than the bots’ practical capabilities. Judging by what we saw at CES 2026, bipedal robotics are nowhere near as capable as companies promise they will be. Hell, they don’t meet their limited promise today. The best home chore robots will continue to be your belligerent children. They won’t want to fold their clothes, but you can guarantee they will do it faster than any robot existing today.
