This $7,999 robot will fold (some of) your laundry

A robot that costs nearly $8,000 and takes up to 90 minutes to fold a single load of laundry might sound like a hard sell, but Bay Area startup Weave is betting someone will bite.

Their Isaac 0 robot represents the latest attempt to crack the code on household chores, joining a wave of companies showcased at this year's CES that see laundry as the ultimate test for home robotics.

But Isaac 0 comes with significant limitations. The stationary machine requires a wall outlet, can't handle large items like bed sheets or blankets, and struggles with inside-out garments. Perhaps most tellingly, it's not fully autonomous — human teleoperators stand ready to help with tricky folds.

The $7,999 price tag, plus a $250 deposit, puts it squarely in luxury territory for what amounts to a single-purpose appliance. While Weave promises the robot's performance will improve over time, the current reality suggests we may still be years away from robots truly being ready for the messy complexity of real homes.

For now, Isaac 0 serves more as an expensive proof of concept than a practical household solution.