Tag Archives: concept robot

Meet M1: The AI Companion That Wants to Live in Your Home

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You’ve seen robots in sci-fi movies, stiff and awkward humanoids that stumble through doorways while trying to act human. But what if I told you there’s a 15-inch robot that actually wants to become part of your everyday life, and it might just pull it off? Meet M1, Zeroth’s flagship home robot that’s rewriting what it means to have a robotic companion.

M1 isn’t trying to be your butler or your therapist. Instead, it occupies this fascinating space between tech gadget and genuine helper. Zeroth describes it as “embodied intelligence,” which sounds like marketing speak until you realize what they mean. This little robot sees, listens, remembers, and most importantly, acts on what it learns about you and your household. It’s built on the idea of human-technology symbiosis, bringing interaction, companionship, and protection into one compact form that doesn’t feel like you’re living in a dystopian future.

Designer: Zeroth

Let’s talk design. M1 stands roughly 15 inches tall, deliberately sized to feel approachable rather than intimidating. The materials tell their own story: stainless steel, aluminum alloy, ABS, rubber, silicone, and glass come together in a way that feels both premium and purposeful. This isn’t cheap plastic masquerading as innovation. There’s a thoughtfulness to the construction that suggests Zeroth actually considered how this robot would exist in your living room, not just function in a lab.

But here’s where M1 gets genuinely interesting. It’s not just a novelty gadget collecting dust after the initial excitement wears off. The robot offers fall detection and mobile safety checks for older adults who want to maintain independence at home. For busy parents, it steps in as that extra set of eyes, managing reminders and routines while keeping kids engaged. And for the makers and tech enthusiasts? M1 becomes a canvas for customization and experimentation, letting you build and define what your first personal robot should actually do.

Zeroth launched this five-robot lineup at CES 2026, but M1 is the one they’re pushing into U.S. homes first. The company, founded in 2024, isn’t just throwing robots at the market to see what sticks. They’ve developed what they call their “Technology DNA,” a unified foundation built on three pillars: advanced motion control, an evolving interaction model, and proprietary actuator engineering. Translation? M1 moves more naturally, learns how you communicate, and packs serious tech into that compact frame.

The pricing sits at $2,399 during the pre-order phase, down from its $2,999 MSRP. That’s not impulse-buy territory, but it’s also not astronomical when you consider what you’re getting. Expected shipping starts April 15, 2026, giving Zeroth time to fine-tune production and hopefully avoid the launch disasters that have plagued other robotics companies.

What makes M1 particularly compelling is how Zeroth positions it. This isn’t about replacing human connection or automating every aspect of life. Instead, M1 fills gaps. It’s there when you need a reminder to take medication but don’t want to set another phone alarm. It engages with kids when you’re making dinner and can’t referee the tenth sibling argument of the day. It monitors for falls without making Grandma feel like she’s being watched by Big Brother. The voice intelligence integration means M1 responds naturally to conversation rather than requiring you to memorize specific commands. It’s the difference between talking to a device and talking with a companion. Over time, the robot learns household patterns, preferences, and needs, becoming more useful the longer it stays in your home.

Zeroth is betting that 2026 is the year consumers are finally ready for home robots that do more than vacuum floors or play music. M1 represents that gamble in physical form, a synthesis of cutting-edge AI, thoughtful design, and practical functionality. Whether it succeeds depends on whether people see value in having a small robotic presence that promises to make life just a little bit easier.

The company showcased M1 and their full robot lineup at CES 2026 for anyone wanting a hands-on experience with the technology. The future of home robotics might not look like the towering androids we expected. Instead, it might be 15 inches tall, made of premium materials, and quietly learning your routine while sitting on your kitchen counter. M1 isn’t just another smart device. It’s Zeroth’s attempt to answer a question we’ve been asking for decades: what happens when robots finally come home?

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Wheeled quadruped robot can stand up to chuck boxes into bins

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While the fear that our robot overlords will eventually take over the planet is still real, we’ve seen advances in robotics that are more helpful for humanity. There are tasks that we would much rather a robot will do for us like carrying heavy things (although that may be one of the reasons why the revolution will start) to avoid injuries. We’re seeing experiments on how to train them to do even more advanced skills so they can eventually take over the world, I mean these heavy, menial tasks.

Designer: Swiss Mile

The ANYmal robot is one such robot experiment that can get around either as a dog-like quadruped or mimic a human when it stands up on its hind legs, hence its name. Last year, it learned to squat back and stand up with its motorized wheels and now they’re experimenting with it to do heavier tasks through something called “curiosity-driven learning”. Basically it gets rewarded when it is able to complete the task it’s given by figuring out how to do it by itself.

In the video they posted showing how the ANYmal robot completed the task of putting a package into a bin, it was able to actually lift the box up and then put it where it’s supposed to go. However, it seemed to just throw it into that bin like how some baggage handlers supposedly do their task if they think no one is looking. The robot is probably thinking, “Hey, they just told me to put the box into the bin, not really to do it carefully and precisely.”

For now, the robot is still a robotics research project for things like Reinforcement Learning and Random Network Distillation. But if they do decide to actually manufacture the robots for industrial and commercial use, it would be interesting to see how the wheeled quadruped with the humanoid form can actually reduce heavy grunt work for humans.

The post Wheeled quadruped robot can stand up to chuck boxes into bins first appeared on Yanko Design.