Because the washing machine and dryer had been invented, people have dreamed about offloading all the opposite chores concerned with laundry, together with sorting, loading and folding. I watched Switchbot’s Onero H1 try the primary two of those duties, and I wasn’t impressed, particularly since, in contrast to most different humanoid robots we have seen at CES 2026, you may truly be capable of purchase this one.
A not-so-capable robotic
The Onero H1 is one other one of many many vaguely humanoid cleansing and sorting robots that popped up at CES. The H1 is designed to be a general-purpose chore robotic, able to not solely doing laundry but additionally loading a dishwasher and organizing objects. The promotional video Switchbot posted means that it might do basically something a human can, together with serving meals and drinks, much like LG’s CLOiD robot.
For the demo, the robotic picked up a single merchandise of clothes off a sofa one by one to load it.
After seeing it in motion at Switchbot’s sales space at CES, I do not assume it is one you must think about preordering, because it nonetheless feels very very similar to a proof of idea and never a client product. It took the H1 almost a full two minutes to very slowly transfer to a sofa, decide up a single merchandise of clothes and put it into the washer, making it even slower than LG’s model that David Watsky, CNET managing editor, saw.
The model I noticed for the demo did not have a totally articulated five-fingered hand, just like the one proven within the demo video. It appears there might be no less than two fashions. I would prefer to assume that it is able to carrying a couple of merchandise of clothes through a basket, however even on the most optimistic stage, you are seemingly taking a look at an hour for it to load a single load of laundry — and even longer for a bigger family.
The demo I noticed confirmed the robotic with extra of a claw than absolutely articulated fingers.
Notably, it additionally needed to bodily bump its physique in opposition to the washer door in an effort to push it open, regardless of initially reaching out to open it with its arms. Between the demo classes, I additionally watched a sales space consultant should go in and manually change the battery. I assume it is because it is a prototype and the longer term client mannequin may have a docking station that expenses it.
{Hardware} and software program
It seems to be cute and pleasant, however I ponder how lengthy the battery will final.
However this additionally raises the query of battery life. Whereas a robot vacuum can final for an hour or extra of cleansing, how lengthy does a totally humanoid robotic final while not having a cost? If the reply is any shorter than that of a robotic vacuum, then this is not a sensible product, because it’ll continually be working again to the dock to recharge fairly than getting something executed, which is one among customers’ largest gripes about robotic vacuums.
As an individual with three cats who’re none too vibrant, I even have considerations about how nicely it might acknowledge and keep away from pets. A robotic vacuum’s capability to keep away from a cat or a canine is not almost as important a deal. It is unlikely that it might be capable of do a lot harm to them. The H1 is a a lot larger and heavier system. If it runs over or ideas over on a pet or a baby, it may very nicely trigger severe damage or demise.
It took about two minutes for the H1 to load this washer with just some objects, loading one by one.
That stated, I do not wish to be unrelentingly unfavourable concerning the H1. To its credit score, it did work within the demo, and it managed to load the washer a number of instances. Switchbot has additionally created a wide range of robotic vacuums and sensible residence units that work fairly nicely, together with the Switchbot S20 Auto Fill & Drain, which had one of many better object avoidance capabilities we have examined.
When it comes to {hardware}, it options RealSense cameras for imaginative and prescient and navigation, and an AI mannequin is built-in underneath the hood, as anticipated. At present, we have no concrete details about pricing, availability or different {hardware} particulars. Nevertheless, it is rumored that the system might be priced underneath $10,000 and might be out there in 2026, which nonetheless locations it within the luxurious vary fairly than the inexpensive client equipment vary.
