A mustard-yellow body, rosy arms, and bent legs give this household robot the look of a character from an animated film. Its illuminated eyes sit low on a boxy torso, leaving a wide, blank front panel above them. The proportions are odd, and that oddness is the point. They give the machine character without asking anyone to mistake it for a person.
The robot is called Voxel, and New York company Tuesday Labs is developing it as a household helper. Its job list is modest: put the book away, bring over a drink, water the plants, and find the wallet. Tuesday Labs groups these tasks into four roles: Home Reset, Fetch, Tend, and Find.
Designer: Tuesday Labs
Voxel is a robot prototype still in development, not a product you can order for next weekend. Tuesday Labs expects to substantially redesign its hardware before delivery. Its reservation agreement says appearance, capabilities, and specifications may change significantly.
Voxel’s future also depends on whether companies commit to camera-based AI gadgets at all. Apple shelves its camera-equipped AI pendant shows how fragile those bets can be.
The warm colors and exposed joints make the robot approachable. The body avoids a realistic human face, which sidesteps the social expectations that come with one. Tuesday Labs works with illustrators, animators, and character designers on its robots. A machine that shares a kitchen has to be pleasant to be around, even when it is idle.
What this voxel household robot would actually do
The hardware of this machine is more practical than the cartoon styling suggests. Each arm has seven degrees of freedom, meaning seven independent joint movements, plus an actuated wrist. The arms are designed to maneuver around counters, shelves, and doors. The grippers have one degree of freedom, a simple hand for a complicated room.
Find is the role most people will recognize. Tuesday Labs says Voxel would tell you where it last saw a misplaced object. That is a narrower promise than knowing where the object is now. A reliable last sighting is useful, but it is not the same as a guarantee.
Plant watering sets a realistic scale for the ambition of a home robot like this one. Small chores are a sensible first target. The harder question is how much setup and supervision those chores would require. A helper that needs constant correction would become one more household task.
Privacy and the cost of admission
A voxel household robot that watches the room raises questions a friendly design cannot answer. Voxel’s listed vision system includes stereo RGB cameras and wide-field vision. Buyers would need clear answers about what gets recorded, what stays on the device, and who can access it. Tuesday Labs’ published privacy policy covers its website, purchases, and reservations. It does not describe how the robot handles data inside a home.
Cameras that watch people in shared spaces raise the same consent problems. Meta’s crackdown on privacy-violating smart glasses shows what happens when a device misuses what it sees.
The financial commitment deserves the same scrutiny. A reservation costs $200 and is fully refundable before an order is placed. The estimated purchase price is $20,000, and that figure is not a fixed final price. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2028, and they could slip later.
A reservation secures the chance to buy. It does not secure a finished machine or a delivery date. At this price, Voxel would need to earn its place through repeated, unassisted performance of ordinary tasks in an ordinary room, not a staged one. Keep the odd proportions and expressive eyes. The useful behavior has to be just as convincing as the character.
Source: yankodesign.com
Frequently asked questions
How much does the Voxel household robot cost?
The estimated purchase price is $20,000, but that figure is not a fixed final price. A reservation costs $200 and is fully refundable before an order is placed.
When will Tuesday Labs’ Voxel robot be delivered?
Deliveries are expected to begin in 2028, though they could slip later. Voxel is still a prototype in development, not a product that can be ordered right away.
What household tasks can the Voxel robot perform?
Its listed jobs include putting books away, bringing over a drink, watering plants, and finding a wallet. Tuesday Labs groups these tasks into four roles: Home Reset, Fetch, Tend, and Find.
What does Voxel’s Find role actually do?
Voxel would tell you where it last saw a misplaced object. That is narrower than knowing where the object is now, and a last sighting is not a guarantee.
More in
Technology
All Technology
More like this
New York City Photographs by Ric Camacho
$235 Million Revamp: Tishman Speyer Restores Iconic Chrysler Building with New Modern Interiors
Photography by Amber Ortolano
MoMA Unveils AI-Driven Memories and Investigative Data in Groundbreaking Exhibit
The Modern Floating Farmhouse In Rural New York By Tom Givone
