Robot that does dishes: what is real, what is a demo, what failed

As of October 2026, you cannot buy a robot that loads or unloads your dishwasher and have it do the job on its own. Sunday's Memo is entering a small free beta, Figure 03 has no price, and the 1X NEO ($20,000 preorder) was teleoperated when the Wall Street Journal watched it load a dishwasher. Dish robots that work today, like Dishcraft, are commercial.

Researched by Riley Hart · updated Oct 23, 2026 · How we research

Short answer

No robot that loads your dishwasher on its own is for sale to US homes as of October 2026. The closest is Sunday's Memo, which loads dishwashers and handles wine glasses in Sunday's videos but has no price and is going to about 50 beta homes first. The 1X NEO ($20,000 or $499 a month) can be preordered, but in the Wall Street Journal's test a remote human drove it while it loaded a dishwasher. Figure 03 has shown dish loading but has no price or order page. Your best dish helper today is still a regular dishwasher.

Robot	Price	Status (Oct 2026)	Dish ability	Who did the work
Sunday Memo	Not published; Sunday says a hand built unit costs about $20,000	Free Founding Family beta, about 50 homes; goal of Thanksgiving 2026	Clears a table and loads a dishwasher; two wine glasses in one hand (Sunday video)	Autonomous, per Sunday; remote help only when a user asks
Figure 03	Not published; CEO floated about $600/mo lease	No preorder; homes possibly 2027	Collects dishes, rinses at the sink, loads dishwasher (Figure demo)	Figure says autonomous; TIME saw it load a dishwasher
1X NEO	$20,000 or $499/mo; $200 deposit	Preorder; no customer delivery date announced	Loaded a dishwasher in the WSJ test	Teleoperated by a human in VR during the WSJ test
Figure 02 (Helix)	Not for sale	Demo, September 2025	Loaded dishes and glasses into racks	Figure says autonomous
Dishcraft	Service contract; no home price	Commercial cafeterias only	Robot arm scrubs and inspects dishes	Staff load carts; special dishes with steel plates
Samsung Bot Handy	Never priced	CES 2021 concept	Shown loading a dishwasher	Never sold
Miele / Neura research	Not applicable	Research project, no date	Self loading dishwasher concept	Not a product

Prices and status from maker pages and press sources listed below, checked October 2026. Abilities are maker claims unless a reporter is named.

Robots in this guide: price and status

Humanoids · 1X NEO Best for Early adopters who want the first legged home humanoid and are comfortable with remote operators in their home $20,000 Check price →Full profile

Humanoids · Figure Figure 03 Best for Readers tracking which big player reaches homes first No price yet Full profile

The short version: nothing to buy yet

Loading a dishwasher is one of the hardest home chores for a robot. Plates are slippery, glasses break, and every kitchen and dishwasher rack is different. Several companies have shown it on video, but as of October 23, 2026, none sells a home robot that does it on its own.

Here is how the field breaks down. Sunday's Memo is starting a small beta. Figure 03 has no order page. The 1X NEO takes preorders but used a remote human pilot in the one test a major reporter filmed. Dishcraft works for real, but only in commercial cafeterias. Everything else is a concept or research.

Closest to homes: Sunday Memo

Memo is a wheeled robot with two arms from Sunday, a Mountain View, California startup. When Sunday launched it in November 2025, its showcase demo was a long dishes routine: clearing a dinner table and loading the dishwasher. Euronews reported Memo lifting two wine glasses with one hand, and cofounder Tony Zhao said it broke no wine glasses in more than 20 live demo sessions. An observer quoted by The Neuron watched it hold two glasses in one hand and nudge the dishwasher door open with its wrist.

Sunday says Memo does these tasks on its own, trained from people wearing its Skill Capture Glove at home rather than from teleoperation. The Neuron reported it moves at about half of human speed. These are Sunday's numbers, not independent tests.

You cannot buy one. Sunday has not set a price. Its site says a hand built unit costs about $20,000 today. It is picking about 50 households for a free Founding Family beta, with a goal of reaching homes by Thanksgiving 2026, and says sales start only after the beta.

Figure 03 and Figure 02

Figure's September 2025 video showed a Figure 02 running its Helix AI loading a dishwasher. Interesting Engineering reported Figure's claim that the same general model learned the task from new data, with no new algorithms, and placed dishes with centimeter scale tolerance. The article did not say how many tries it took.

When Figure revealed Figure 03 in October 2025, it showed the robot picking up dishes in a living room, rinsing them at the sink and loading a dishwasher. TIME visited and saw Figure 03 load a dishwasher and clear a table. CEO Brett Adcock told TIME, "We're not there yet. We think we can get there in 2026, but it's a big push."

As of October 2026, Figure has no price, preorder or waitlist for homes. Adcock has floated a lease of about $600 a month and now suggests homes as early as 2027.

1X NEO: real preorder, remote pilot

The 1X NEO is the only humanoid here you can put money down on: $20,000 to own or $499 a month, with a $200 refundable deposit. But 1X's October 2025 launch release lists laundry, tidying and fetching items, not dishes, as its headline chores. For anything NEO does not know, an owner can schedule a remote 1X Expert to guide it.

In the Wall Street Journal's test, Joanna Stern watched NEO load a dishwasher while a human controlled it with a VR headset. She wrote that NEO "nearly toppled over while closing the dishwasher." Notebookcheck's summary of that test also noted that customer home video is sent to 1X's servers to train its AI. So if you buy NEO for dishes, expect a remote person to be doing much of the work at first.

Commercial only: Dishcraft

Dishcraft is the best known dish robot that actually works, but not in homes. IEEE Spectrum described it in 2019: staff load sorted dishes onto carts, a robot arm picks up each dish, a scrubber cleans it, and a camera checks for leftover food before the dish goes to a commercial sanitizer. It only works with Dishcraft's own dishes, which have a steel plate in the base so the arm can grab them with a magnet.

Dishcraft sells this to cafeterias as "dishes as a service." It has never offered a home product, and it would not work with your own plates.

What failed or never shipped

Samsung showed Bot Handy at CES 2021, a robot arm it said could load the dishwasher, pick up laundry and clean the sink. The Takeout reported Samsung gave no price and no date, and we found no sign it ever went on sale.

Carnegie Mellon's HERB research robot tried unloading a dishwasher back in 2014. Reviewed reported it bruised and dented the dishes. Miele is working with Neura Robotics and Bielefeld University on a robot that loads and unloads a dishwasher, but the project has no launch date.

The pattern is the same as with laundry robots: polished demos, no price, and dates that slip.

How to judge a dish robot

Ask who was driving. In the WSJ test, a remote human piloted NEO.
Ask how many tries the video took. Figure and Sunday have not published dishwasher success rates.
Ask how fast it is. The Neuron reported Memo at about half of human speed.
Ask about fragile items. Sunday claims no broken glasses in 20+ demos; ask for that in your kitchen.
Ask whether it works with your dishes. Dishcraft needs special steel based plates.
Ask what the cameras send. 1X sends home video to its servers for training.
Check refund terms before paying a deposit.

Who should buy now and who should wait

Almost everyone should wait. If you want help with dishes today, a good dishwasher and a routine will beat any robot on sale. If you are curious and can afford to tie up money, a refundable 1X NEO deposit holds a place in line, but plan on remote operators at first. Apply to Sunday's beta if you want to test, since it is free. Watch for independent reviews of robots loading real dishwashers in homes before you pay in full. For other chores, see our guides to robots that cook and robots that fold laundry.

Questions people ask

Is there a robot that does dishes?

Not one you can buy for your home as of October 2026. Sunday Memo, Figure 03 and 1X NEO have shown dishwasher loading, but Memo is in a small beta, Figure has no order page, and NEO was teleoperated in the WSJ test.

Can a robot load a dishwasher?

In demos, yes. Figure and Sunday have shown it on video and say their robots did it on their own. No independent test of a robot loading a dishwasher in a customer's home has been published as of October 2026.

How much does a dishwashing robot cost?

The 1X NEO is $20,000 or $499 a month. Sunday says a hand built Memo costs about $20,000 but has no sale price. Figure has no price; its CEO floated about $600 a month to lease.

Can I buy Dishcraft for my home?

No. Dishcraft is a commercial service for cafeterias and needs its own dishes with steel plates in the base.

Does the 1X NEO do dishes on its own?

Not yet in published tests. When the Wall Street Journal filmed NEO loading a dishwasher, a human controlled it remotely with a VR headset.

When can I get Sunday Memo?

Sunday is picking about 50 homes for a free beta with a goal of Thanksgiving 2026. It says sales start only after the beta and has not set a price.