Tuesday Labs, a New York City-based robotics and design studio, wants $20,000 for a robot whose big selling point is finding your remote. My gut reaction was a shrug, because what does Voxel know that a $24 AirTag doesn’t?
Quite a lot, and none of it needs a tag, because Voxel watches your home. Ask him where your wallet went and he’ll tell you where he last spotted it. The robot was paying attention while you weren’t.
The deposit gets you in the door, but you’ll still be looking at a bill of around $20,000 when Voxel Series-1 ships in 2028. Voxel hasn’t said when that will happen. I’d find it hard to commit that much money before seeing a finished unit outside a demo. A robot might look capable in a render, but I’d want to watch it step around shoes, toys, and the other clutter that ends up on the floor before paying the balance.
Find gets the headline. Fetch is where my AirTag consideration doesn’t make sense, because a tracker will happily chirp from somewhere inside the couch while you dig for your keys on your hands and knees between the cushions, and Voxel is supposed to walk over and put them in your palm.
Home Reset returns clutter to its spot. Tend waters the plants. Small jobs, and I like that Tuesday Labs isn’t promising a robot chef.
Voxel walks on Z-shaped legs that bend the opposite way to yours. Odd to look at, smart in a kitchen. He can crouch for a bottom shelf and straighten up for a high cabinet.
The seven degrees of freedom in each arm, paired with fully actuated wrists, should help the robot position its hands for tasks like opening doors. Its grippers have one degree of freedom each. I’d rather see Voxel nail the grip on a glass with a simple claw than add elaborate fingers that make the robot look more human but work less reliably.
The face is the strange part. Pixelated animated eyes glow low on the torso, while stereo RGB cameras hide higher up and a wide-field camera keeps the whole room in view. My Labrador, Theia, would have opinions about those impact-aware feet.
Tuesday Labs has a team of character designers and animators working on his personality, and the company calls him a gentleman in training. I’d rather know who gets to watch the footage from my living room. That wide-field camera helps Voxel track where I leave my phone, but where does the video go after the robot sees it?