Goose by The Robot Works Arrives as a Household Robot Built to Grow

Rolling down a hallway with a shirt slung over its neck, Goose looks less like a factory demo and more like a small appliance that decided to grow a personality. Prototype 1 from San Francisco’s The Robot Works is a white, low, rounded base with a long articulated neck, camera eyes set in a bonnet so you can see where it is looking, and a bright orange beak that doubles as a gripper. A blue polka-dot wrap gives the machine a costume instead of a chassis. Founders posted the first public clip this week with a simple brief: tidy, play, live.

Richard Wei has spent months sitting down with families to discuss what they really need from a robot in their house, and the team has used that information to create something they would like to have themselves. Humphrey Hu, who formerly worked with Anki on making highly expressive robot faces, will join him on this project. After considering all of the jobs that tend to build up around the house, as well as how a machine might interact with children and grandparents, they decided against a human-shaped body. Instead, the design features a wide stance close to the floor to keep the creature low to the ground, as well as a long neck that allows it to reach for items such as a sock, a wall outlet, a door handle, or a pile of laundry without having to stand on two legs and tower over the space.

They also kept the hardware minimal on purpose, resulting in a robot that rolls, looks around, and then moves on to complete its job. It analyzes its blind spots before moving, and the motors are meant to give way if something like a foot, a chair, or a child gets in the way, and the ability to halt and send it somewhere else was purposefully built in, so it wasn’t an afterthought. A video released shows the robot performing things like placing a man’s foot onto an ottoman, gathering clothes off the hardwood floor, reaching up to a kitchen counter, inserting a plug into a wall outlet, and even pulling open a door when some relatives arrive with children.


Some early write-ups also highlighted some low-key jobs for older individuals who may be less mobile, such as fetching something you’ve tagged, bringing a walker over to the bedside when it’s time for bed, lighting the route to the toilet, keeping an eye out for falls, and sending a ping to family members. Some early elevator and door operations still need a human on the other end of the line, but on the positive side, autonomy is real in some areas and borrowed in others. Which is reasonable for the first version of the product.


The concept is for the robot’s capabilities to evolve as a library rather than coming with a predefined set of talents when you buy it, and they intend to vet each new software before it is released, allowing you to choose what it can see and do. The company is now selling services such as a full-room tidy, checking in on Grandpa, being a companion during story time, taking a look around the house while you’re away, checking the stove, and bringing a parcel inside. The pitch is that life evolves, thus the machine should be able to continually adding new jobs to its repertoire rather of becoming locked in one specific role. That’s the whole point of “built to grow.” They also claim that any household data will remain under your control, rather than being a default action that occurs automatically when the robot arrives.


Unfortunately, orders are currently closed because the initial prototype is still pre-production, with no price or commercial warranty available. Wei says the company is looking for “foster families” that will let Goose learn on real floors, real clutter, and real schedules. You can contact them at therobotworks.ai, while more information will be provided as the device gets closer to launch.