cobesa · Guides
Humanoid Robot Guides
cobesa guides are plain-English education for people thinking about bringing a humanoid robot into their home. Not reviews, not rankings, just the things you actually need to think through before you spend the money: what these robots actually can do, what they cost to buy and finance, how warranties and service work, the software and apps that run them, and how to keep your home safe and private. One guide is live today, with more being built.
What this is
A home for cobesa's education library. These guides exist to explain humanoid robots to regular home buyers, in clear, plain language. No engineering jargon, no fanboy hype, and no maker paying to look good. When you're ready to compare specific robots, that lives in a different part of cobesa. This part is about getting you smart first.
The standard
How cobesa guides work
- Written for your living room, not a lab.
Every guide is for people bringing a robot into a real home, with kids, pets, stairs, and a spouse who did not ask for a robot. Not businesses, not developers, not researchers.
- Plain English, no spec worship.
You won't find degrees of freedom or torque density here. You'll find what a thing does, what it costs, and what happens when it stops working.
- We say when we don't know.
This category is young and half of it is still marketing. Where the honest answer is "not yet" or "nobody knows," a cobesa guide says exactly that instead of guessing.
- Independent, and it stays that way.
No robot manufacturer pays to be covered or praised. cobesa may earn a commission on some purchases, but that never changes the advice, and any relationship is disclosed up top.
The syllabus
What the guides cover
Bringing a humanoid robot home is less like buying a gadget and more like buying a used car or adopting a very expensive, very literal roommate. These are the areas cobesa guides walk you through, one plain-English piece at a time.
- What they actually do today
The real capabilities versus the staged demos, sorted out task by task so you know what you're actually buying.
- Cost, and how people finance it
Purchase price, subscriptions, monthly plans, and the true cost of ownership over a few years, not just the sticker.
- Warranties and service
What's covered, for how long, who actually shows up when it breaks, and what a repair costs when the warranty runs out.
- Software and apps
The app that controls it, the AI service behind it, what happens in an outage, and whether the robot you own gets smarter or abandoned.
- Safety and home fit
Size, weight, sound, and how a machine this large behaves around children, pets, glass, water, and stairs.
- Privacy and your data
A robot with cameras and microphones lives in your house. What it records, where that goes, and the controls you actually get.
Live now
Buyer's Guide
The Humanoid Robot Buyer's Guide
Updated July 2026 · about a 15 minute read
The full plain-English primer: what humanoid robots can and can't do in a home right now, what they cost to buy and own, and how to think about whether one belongs in your house yet. Covers the 1X NEO, the Unitree G1 and R1, and why Tesla Optimus, Figure 03, and Apptronik Apollo aren't really for sale to regular people yet.
Read the guide →In the works
What's coming next
More guides are being written and fact-checked now. Each one goes live only when it's accurate and genuinely useful, so you won't find empty placeholder pages here. Here's what's on the bench.
- In progress
What a humanoid robot really costs, and how people finance it
The whole ownership stack: purchase or subscription, the AI service it can't run without, power, connectivity, repairs, insurance, financing options, and the depreciation nobody warns you about.
- In progress
Warranties and service: what happens when it breaks
Coverage in plain terms, how long support really lasts, who fixes a humanoid robot, how long you wait, and what an out-of-warranty repair does to your wallet.
- In progress
The apps and software behind your robot
What actually runs the machine: the control app, the subscription brain in the cloud, updates, outages, and whether your robot keeps improving or quietly gets left behind.
- In progress
What can a humanoid robot actually do at home today?
A room-by-room, task-by-task reality check. What's real, what's remote-operated by a person you can't see, and what's still years away no matter what the launch video promised.
FAQ
Questions about cobesa guides
What are cobesa guides?
Who are cobesa guides for?
Do the guides tell me which robot to buy?
Are cobesa guides free?
Does cobesa take money from robot manufacturers?
How often are the guides updated?
Start with the guide that exists
Brand new to humanoid robots? Start Here first for the two-minute lay of the land. Ready to go deeper? The buyer's guide covers what's real, what it costs, and how to think about whether one belongs in your home yet.