01 Frequency
Frequency
Which small retrieval tasks happen often enough to matter?
FETCH Research
Useful robotics starts with the right problem.
Home robotics often begins with the machine: more joints, more intelligence, more impressive demonstrations. We are starting somewhere else — with the everyday task.
Our question
Can a small, affordable robot make independent living easier by reliably bringing everyday objects?
What we are testing
02 Value
Value
Which tasks genuinely improve day-to-day independence?
03 Trust
Trust
What makes a mobile robot feel predictable and comfortable in a home?
04 Reliability
Reliability
How reliable must an interaction become before people choose to use it every day?
05 Affordability
Affordability
Can useful physical assistance fit into a consumer-device price category?
Conceptual comparison — not a benchmark of specific commercial products.
Our product constraint
FETCH is intentionally narrower. The point is not to win every category — it is to choose a task family that a compact, affordable machine might actually complete.
Humanoid approach
- Many possible tasks
- High physical complexity
- Large machine
- Higher cost ambition
General home robot
- Multiple chores
- Medium-to-high complexity
- Broad environment requirements
FETCH approach
- One task family first
- Lightweight objects
- Compact form
- Target price around $999
A demo only has to work once. A household product has to work again tomorrow.
The difficult part of home robotics is not making a robot pick something up once. It is making the full interaction predictable enough to become boring.
- Start
Prototype demo
- Then
Repeatable task
- Then
Different rooms
- Then
Different lighting
- Then
Different object positions
- Then
Safe failure
- Goal
Everyday trust
Metrics we intend to track
What success looks like
These are categories we plan to measure — not results we already have.
Task completion
Did the requested object arrive?
Safe failure
When unsure, does FETCH stop and ask?
Intervention rate
How often does a person need to step in?
Time to retrieve
Is the wait short enough to be useful?
Object drop rate
Does the object stay in the tray?
Ease of setup
Can a household get started without a technician?
Willingness to use again
Would someone ask FETCH tomorrow?
Participate
Help shape what FETCH should become.
We would like to hear from people who live with these small daily trips — and from the families and professionals around them.
This is product research, not a purchase. There is no finished FETCH for sale yet.