At CES 2026, this robot folds laundry, empties the dishwasher and takes dishes out of the oven

This year’s CES wasn’t solely about ever-larger televisions or speedier handsets. At CES 2026, the attention shifted to artificial intelligence taking a central role in the home, with robots beginning to handle jobs that once seemed either too delicate or too risky for machines.

AI arrives in the living room

CES 2026 delivered a clear message: home tech is moving beyond one-off smart gadgets. Instead, brands are pushing the idea of a home that functions as a joined-up ecosystem, with AI coordinating the lot.

At the show, major electronics firms promoted a future in which your fridge, oven, washing machine and household robots continuously exchange information. They pick up on routines, anticipate requirements and self-adjust with very little involvement from the homeowner.

Instead of asking a device what it can do, manufacturers now ask how it can collaborate with everything else in the house.

In demonstrations, smart fridges used internal cameras and computer vision to recognise what’s on the shelves. From there, they recommended recipes, monitored use-by dates and even suggested shopping lists. Meanwhile, washing machines and dishwashers altered their cycles to reduce water and electricity use during peak-tariff periods, responding to live inputs rather than sticking to fixed programmes.

Driving this change are AI models akin to the large language systems people now know from phones and computers. Smaller, embedded versions run on-device, spot behaviour patterns and refine their responses over time. The outcome goes beyond basic automation and into orchestration: a home that attempts to keep itself ticking over with fewer disruptions.

LG ClOiD: the robot that folds laundry and empties the dishwasher

The most talked-about example of this new domestic push came from LG, which showed a humanoid-style robot designed specifically for everyday household tasks. Presented as LG ClOiD, the machine is built to move around the home, identify objects and manipulate them precisely enough to tackle work that consumer robots have traditionally struggled with.

With a mix of cameras, depth sensing and AI-driven vision, the robot can recognise clothing, kitchen items and appliances. Its jointed arms and grippers then carry out actions that, until recently, were considered well out of reach for mainstream home robots.

This machine does three things that hit home immediately: it folds laundry, empties the dishwasher and takes hot dishes out of the oven.

The laundry display attracted especially large crowds. ClOiD lifted T‑shirts, squared up the seams and folded them into tidy stacks on a table. Its software reduces each garment to shapes, identifies sleeves and collars, and then chooses the right folding routine. It doesn’t match a practised person for speed, but it is notably more consistent than a typical Sunday-evening rush.

In the kitchen demonstration, the robot unlatched the dishwasher, slid out the lower rack and transferred plates into a cupboard. Thanks to object recognition, it can tell the difference between glasses, plates and cutlery, while the system gradually memorises where each type of item is usually put away.

The oven scenario was equally instructive. Using temperature sensing and thermal imaging, the robot can judge what is safe to handle. With heat-resistant grippers, it removes a tray from the oven, sets it on a worktop or trivet, and then backs away. That kind of job isn’t only about force; it also depends on risk awareness, including whether children or pets are close by.

How CES 2026 home robots navigate around your rooms

To work effectively in a real house, the robot first builds a map of the interior using 3D cameras and lidar-style sensors. It produces a digital representation of rooms, furniture and fixed appliances. The AI then calculates routes that steer clear of obstacles, including smaller objects left on the floor.

If the environment changes, the map is refreshed on the fly. A chair that has been shifted or a fridge door left open becomes a new parameter to route around, rather than something that causes the system to fail. That flexibility matters in homes where the layout rarely stays the same for long.

SwitchBot enters the scene with the SwitchBot Onero H1

LG wasn’t the only company aiming at hands-on housework. SwitchBot used CES 2026 to unveil the Onero H1, another domestic robot built around sophisticated vision and object handling.

While ClOiD is positioned as a general-purpose household helper, the Onero H1 is presented as being particularly focused on working with existing appliances and everyday objects. It can push buttons, open doors, shift baskets and take on simple tidying tasks.

SwitchBot’s machine is built to learn routines, from loading a washing machine to putting away scattered items after a busy day.

The robot looks for repeated patterns: the time laundry is typically done, where toys most often end up, and which surfaces are prone to clutter. As it learns, it develops a timetable that fits the household’s habits. The owner can still step in and overrule it, but the default approach is that the robot makes suggestions rather than simply waiting for commands.

New cleaning and organisation tools shown at CES 2026

Alongside these humanoid-style assistants, CES 2026 also featured a surge of narrower, purpose-built products aimed at cleaning and storage. Many were less eye-catching than a robot folding clothes, yet they may arrive in homes sooner because they are cheaper and simpler to build.

• Smart robot vacuum cleaners that spot cables, socks and pet toys, then reroute to avoid tangling.
• Multi-surface cleaning robots that tackle floors, windows and even pools, guided by 3D maps of the property.
• AI-assisted organisation systems that monitor tagged items and tell you where you last left keys or headphones.
• Connected washers, dryers and vacuum cleaners that coordinate cycles so cleaning jobs happen in a sensible order.

The objective across these products is plain: cut down both the time spent on routine tasks and the mental effort of managing them. Rather than scheduling everything by hand, people set broad preferences, and the machines then coordinate between themselves over what runs when and how.

What everyday life with a chore robot could look like

Imagine an ordinary weekday. During its regular rounds, the robot notices the laundry basket is close to full, based on what it sees. It then sends a notification requesting permission to run a dark-colours wash during off-peak electricity hours.

Once the wash is finished, it transfers the clothes to the tumble dryer or a drying rack. Later on, it folds the dry items and delivers each stack to the correct room. At the same time, it has already unloaded the dishwasher, wiped crumbs from the table using a cleaning attachment, and confirmed the oven is switched off.

For many families, the appeal is not luxury, but the quiet removal of constant background chores.

Control remains with the user via voice assistants or a mobile app, but the system is intended to reduce the number of questions it asks as it learns preferences. Higher-risk activities-such as handling knives or opening particular cupboards-can be restricted behind explicit permissions.

Costs, risks and the questions still to answer

These machines are unlikely to be affordable at launch. Early projections from industry analysts indicate that sophisticated domestic robots with articulated arms could be priced as high as a small car. Manufacturers are relying on costs dropping as parts and AI chips become less expensive.

Safety and privacy are also central concerns. A robot that can roam freely around a home, interpret scenes and generate detailed 3D maps prompts questions about who can see that information and how long it is retained. At CES, companies highlighted on-device processing and encryption, but tighter regulatory attention is likely.

There is a further, more human issue: when routine chores are handed over to a machine, some households may lose the rhythm that once shaped the day. For certain families, folding laundry together or cleaning the kitchen is a shared activity rather than a pure inconvenience. Designers are still working through how to add automation without wiping out those rituals.

Key concepts behind these new home robots

A handful of technical phrases came up repeatedly at CES, and they help explain why 2026 feels different from the robot promises of a decade earlier.

Term	What it means at home
Computer vision	Software that enables robots to identify objects, read labels and understand where items sit in 3D space.
Grasping and manipulation	Algorithms that work out how to pick up, hold and move items with different shapes and levels of fragility.
Home mapping	Building a digital model of rooms, furniture and obstacles, refreshed whenever the layout shifts.
Routine learning	Detecting patterns such as when you cook, sleep or work, so robots can schedule tasks for convenient times.

For households thinking about adopting these devices over the next few years, the most useful questions may focus less on specifications and more on practical integration. How effectively will a robot cooperate with existing appliances? Can it cope in a cramped flat as well as it can in a showroom kitchen? Will software updates keep it relevant for a decade, or will it age in the way a smartphone does?

As these robots edge nearer to sale, early adopters will, in effect, be running large-scale trials. Their experiences will influence not just future product design, but also social expectations: what seems acceptable, what feels intrusive, and which tasks-once handed off to a machine-people never want to take back.