This Humanoid Is Ready to Bring You a Toothbrush

The newest humanoid robot on the scene, Sprout, is not designed to carry boxes or stack shelves. Instead, this charming and relatively cheap model, about the size of a 9-year-old child, is intended to help customers in hotels, shops and restaurants.

“We said, 'What if we could build something lightweight, engaging, and safe to be around, and capable enough to do some exciting things?'” says Robert Cochran, co-founder and CEO of Fauna, the startup behind Sprout.

Sprout is available for purchase starting today from $50,000. Cochran adds that his firm is already talking to hotels about using Sprout as a butler that brings toothbrushes and other items to guests in need.

The launch of Sprout is part of a growing industry in the United States. The business of humanoids is booming despite the fact that it is still unclear how practical and useful these systems will be. More than a dozen American companies are working on humanoids, including Boston Dynamics, which recently signed a deal to use Google's AI in its robots; Tesla, which is developing a system called Optimus; and startups like Agility Robotics, Figure AI, and 1X.

Unitree, a Chinese robot maker, also has found success selling cheap humanoids for entertainment and research goals. Some of Unitree's humanoids cost less than $20,000. When fully equipped with sensors and computers, but they cost about the same as Sprout.

Fauna's first customers include Disney, which already uses robots in some of its theme parks, and Boston Dynamics, which makes a range of legged robots for industrial use, including larger, stronger humanoids.

Cochran says Sprout is designed to be easy to program, making it particularly useful in research settings. The robot comes with software libraries that let it learn about its environment, run autonomously, access language models, and more. The robot can also be teleoperated out of the box, which can be useful for robot training. Scientists at New York University are using Sprout to research new techniques for robotic manipulation and human-to-robot interaction. The company also says it has developed proprietary technology to help Sprout regain its balance when it stumbles.

While most humanoid robots are touted as factory workers, with some already being tested by automakers, Cochran says Fauna believes the first market for robots could be in the entertainment and service industries.

Cochran showed me a few interfaces for Sprout, including an app that shows the robot's visual perspective and a coding interface that can be used to program the system in real time. Unlike most humanoids, Sprout was designed with human interaction in mind, which is why it comes with mechanical eyebrows to express interest, surprise or confusion.

Cochran previously worked at Meta. Other members of the founding team come from Google. Cochran notes that AI systems that can identify objects, such as those developed for smart glasses, will also be useful for robots tasked with interacting with human environments.

At one point in the demo, Cochrane asked Sprout to go and check what was in the fridge. The robot interpreted the command with an LLM and moved to a corner of the office in a manner not unlike a truculent 9-year-old. After peering through the glass door of the device, Sprout returned to report the existence of several sodas.

Cochrane believes that these kinds of abilities could help humanoids break through. “You can get a sort of 'Hello World' example of a robot that you can talk to and autonomously map its environment and navigate effectively,” he says. “And from there the world is your oyster.”