At a Silicon Valley summit, robots fold laundry—and investors open their wallets

Robots from all over the world have gathered in Silicon Valley to get a glimpse of the potential future.

The two robots picked up the T-shirts with orange-tipped claws, then carefully placed them in a pile. A cute robot companion with bright eyes made a heart with his mechanical arms. A small robot wearing a bear hat threw punches while a blue-green robot resembling an anime character moved its head and arms.

The child-like and teaching robot had a lot to say.

“By teaming up, humans and robots can solve big problems like making education more accessible, caring for people and protecting our planet,” said Cody, a robot from Mind Children, a startup in Washington state.

Robots and about 2,000 people took part in a two-day humanoid summit held last week at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. Humanoid robots are different from standard mechanical robots already used in many industries because they resemble humans and imitate their movements.

The event brought together robotics companies in the USA, China, Japan and other countries.

It featured speakers from Google, Disney and Boston Dynamics, as well as products from California startups such as Weave Robotics, Dyna Robotics and Psyonic.

The summit was organized by the Californian venture capital company ALM Ventures. Investors are betting big on robotics companies, intensifying competition to incorporate AI into the physical forms that interact with people in the real world.

As of early December, venture capital deals with U.S. humanoid robot companies totaled nearly $2.8 billion in 2025, up from $42.6 million in 2020, according to PitchBook. The majority of this funding came from investments in California-based humanoid robot companies—approximately $1.6 billion.

Fig, a San Jose-based artificial intelligence robotics company that has developed a robot to do dishes, laundry and other household tasks, announced in September that it had surpassed $1 billion in funding and was valued at $39 billion.

Companies have developed robots that will lift heavy objects in warehouses, support customers in stores, assist doctors, fight on the battlefield and entertain visitors at theme parks.

Startups create robotic components such as arms, sensors and cameras. And tech moguls have made some bold predictions for the future.

Elon Musk said this year that Tesla's humanoid robot Optimus will “eliminate poverty”, be more productive than humans and boost the global economy.

Still, the robots have a long way to go to live up to the hype, say some analysts, who are skeptical about whether they will even prove useful to businesses and consumers.

“They're not practical. They're limited in functionality. They're not nearly as smart as their demos,” said Bill Ray, an analyst and research director at Gartner.

There are also concerns that robots will take away people's jobs and invade their privacy.

Bot developers say their products are designed to help people, not replace them.

Modar Alaoui, founder and general partner of ALM Ventures, said he believes robots will be the first to take off in manufacturing. The firm has launched a $100 million early-stage fund, part of which is dedicated to humanoid robots.

“These are boring, dangerous, boring, mundane tasks that need to be done every day,” he said. “And it also happens naturally, through an organic, natural transition from just intelligent automation to highly intelligent automation.”

The Humanoid Summit showed that robots still have technical limitations. Few of the robots on display were actually autonomous, and many essentially just performed preprogrammed movements or were controlled by humans.

This is just the beginning, say optimists.

The market for robots that look and act like humans is predicted to grow. By 2050, the humanoid market is likely to reach $5 trillion and could be twice the size of the auto industry. Morgan Stanley Research assessments. The firm said there could be more than 1 billion humanoids in operation by then.

Morgan Stanley Research estimates that a humanoid robot will cost approximately $200,000 in 2024 in high-income countries. By 2050, this figure could drop to $50,000 as technology advances and production increases.

Weave Robotics, a California startup that created a laundry-folding robot, has begun placing robots in laundromats. The company was founded by former Apple engineers Evan Wineland and Kaan Dogrusoz. Next year, the company plans to begin shipping a new robot, Isaac, that will fold laundry and clean homes.

On the eve of a conference at Sea Breeze Cleaners in San Francisco, one of the company's robots was folding shirts outside a large window overlooking a sidewalk in the Noe Valley neighborhood.

The strange sight stopped people. Curious spectators took photographs.

The AI ​​robot didn't fold clothes as quickly as humans, but it patiently sorted through laundry one pile at a time.

The company and Sea Breeze Cleaners have teamed up with Tumble, an on-demand laundry delivery service that uses robots to complete laundry faster.

Kay Astorga, who owns Sea Breeze Cleaners with her husband, said adding the robot to their laundry has helped attract new customers.

Working with the robot convinced her that she preferred robots like the Disney and Pixar character WALL-E, which were more machine-like than human. She doesn't want robots to do things that bring people joy, like baking.

“I don’t want a robot making the croissant,” she said. “I definitely want a shirt folded by a robot. I'm fine with that.”

While California-based companies like Fig and 1X Technologies create colorful household robots with human bodies and legs, Weave Robotics' laundry-folding robot doesn't need an entire body. This keeps the robot's installation cost under $10,000 and keeps its ongoing operation “extremely low,” Wineland said.

The company is in talks with other businesses in the manufacturing and hospitality sectors, he said. The company plans to place a third robot in a laundry facility in Walnut Creek in the new year, he said.

The upcoming home robot, named after science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, will cost more because it will be mobile on wheels and have other premium features. The company envisions that people will be able to talk to the robot and issue commands through the app.

Some robots perform dangerous tasks that workers may not want to perform.

Agility Robotics, an Oregon company based in San Jose, is deploying its Digit robot in warehouses, manufacturing and logistics.

“There's a lot of manual labor that involves very heavy moving of objects, and people can get cut. People can get injured,” said Pras Velagapudi, CTO of Agility Robotics.

Standing on two legs, the blue-green robot has claw-like grips rather than hands and can lift up to 35 pounds. Companies such as e-commerce giant Amazon have used the robot to perform repetitive tasks such as picking up and moving empty bags.

Agility charges businesses for the labor their robots perform. The company, like others in the industry, needs to build a cage or fence around the robot for safety purposes.

California startups are also working to improve parts used by robots and sometimes humans.

Back at the summit, San Diego startup Psyonic's booth featured a set of robotic arms on various arms that resembled Doctor Octopus, a character from the Spider-Man series. The startup is known for its bionic “ability arm,” which is used by both robots and people with missing limbs. Sensors inside the hand allow people to sense touch when they hold an object.

Adeel Akhtar, chief executive and co-founder of Psyonic, said that as a child he met a girl with a missing limb while visiting Pakistan with his parents. This inspired him to work on bionic limbs. The company has received funding through crowdfunding and an appearance on the television show “Shark Tank,” and is also developing prototypes of arms and legs.

He expects robots to become more common in the future.

“She will be more integrated into society,” he said. “It’s not such a new concept anymore.”