John Koetsier of NEXT with John Koetsier talks with Jan Leard, founder and CEO of OpenMind and a Stanford bioengineering professor, about near-term uses for home robots and the open-source OM1 robot operating system.
Leard says robot hands remain costly and failure-prone, making tasks like folding laundry and washing dishes poor early use cases. He argues that automation is more viable when it replaces expensive human labor. More reliable, lower-cost hands are emerging, but tasks such as washing hands and handling messy materials remain difficult.
Leard describes three home robot uses: companionship and health support, education, and security. One system can look for an older adult it has not seen for eight minutes, check whether they may need help, and connect a nurse for remote assessment. He also describes robots that guide children through math problems and notify owners when an unfamiliar person enters the home.
Leard says people should be able to inspect and control the software in robots that enter their homes, including how cameras, microphones, and data are handled. OM1 is an open-source, LLM-centric system that lets developers combine prompts and models for different robot behaviors. Developers choose which models to use, including open or closed models.
Leard says OM1 is already being used for nontrivial applications, but most developers lack access to a robot and must rely on simulators. He describes setup problems with tools such as Gazebo and Isaac Sim, including hardware, driver, and Linux compatibility. He says robotics needs accessible, physically accurate simulations of homes, classrooms, and hospitals, including realistic voice interactions.
Leard argues there will not be one adoption tipping point for all robots: manufacturing, warehouse logistics, and robotaxis reached milestones at different times. For humanoids, his benchmark is when people outside technology hubs can buy a robot in a store and take it home. Koetsier imagines that experience as similar to buying a car or washing machine.
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