Mobile ALOHA: Stanford's housekeeping robot can do chores

Researchers at Stanford University recently announced a low-cost open-source hardware system for bimanual teleoperation, which can learn from humans to cook, clean and do laundry.

The robot, Mobile ALOHA, can perform autonomously or be operated by a user.

It extends the capabilities of the original ALOHA, a low-cost and dexterous bimanual puppeteering setup by mounting it on a wheeled base, which can move up to 1.6 meters per second, similar to average human walking speed, researchers said in a paper.

Moreover, a remote operation system has been designed, allowing simultaneous control of both the base and the two arms. With a weight of 75 kilograms, it can exert a pulling force of 100 Newton at a height of 1.5 meters.

In a demonstration video, researchers showed that the robot can autonomously cook shrimp, call and take an elevator, wipe wine spilled on the desk, lift a pot to a cabinet, rinse pans, push chairs and interact with people.

Additionally, through remote-controlled operations, it can do laundry, use a coffee machine, self-charge, use a vacuum cleaner, water plants, load and unload a dishwasher, obtain drinks from the fridge and open a beer, throw away trash, play with pets and more.

The entire system costs around $32,000. It is much cheaper than off-the-shelf bimanual robots, which can cost up to $200,000, according to an American technology website VentureBeat.

Researchers open-sourced all the software and hardware parts on the website, covering three-dimensional printing, assembly and software installation.

"Finally some innovation worth having. Great work," a user said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

"Where can I buy this? I need it for the kitchen urgently!" said another user.

However, the robot is not perfect. Researchers said in its paper that both its hardware and software need to be optimized, as there are still "limitations."

"Robots are not ready to take over the world yet!" said Tony Z. Zhao, one of the three researchers, in a tweet on Saturday. He posted a video showcasing the "dumbest mistakes" the robot made in its autonomous mode.