Humanoid robots herald a new era, poised to redefine hospitality and hotel housekeeping

This article was first published in the July/Aug 2025 issue of Housekeeping Today UK

Humanoid robots which help with household chores have become a big talking point this year, with cutting edge tech companies competing to get ahead of others in the race. This is about more than the robotic vacuuming machines already gliding around some homes and hotel corridors.

For instance, there’s Tesla’s Optimus, set to go on sale next year, while in San Francisco a start-up called Figure has brought its plans to test robots in homes forward two years and this will now start later in the year. The reason is that the company has a Helix AI system which can provide a ‘brain’ for the robots to learn about and react to what’s happening around them. But now a Chinese tech company launched at the start of this year has announced trials of a humanoid cleaning robot, the Zerith H1, that it says could transform the hospitality industry as it’s being specifically developed to take on hotel housekeeping, including vacuuming, cleaning showers, toilets and sinks and restocking amenities. You can see the Zerith on Youtube, where it’s shown gliding around while vacuuming a room and throwing waste into a bin.

Screenshot of the YouTube video

The designers say Zerith’s manoeuvrability means it can pick up items from the floor and place toiletries on a vanity, among other tasks required in hotel rooms. The company also sees a future role in a concierge or butler mode, an on-demand assistant responding to guest requests via the hotel app. It says the robot is designed not as a replacement for human staff but to take on time and energy-draining tasks. But before we get to the hotels, the Zerith makers hope to deliver some 500 humanoid robots this year, mainly in the service, education, entertainment, and exhibition sectors.

So, what do the Youtube viewers think of The Zerith H1? While some were excited about the possibilities, others (especially experienced cleaners) were not that impressed.

As one said: “What about situations where soap and conditioner bottles are scattered on the floor, there is pizza crust under the chair, and the room is generally in a state of disarray?”

Another commented: “I’m a custodian and it didn’t clean properly and thoroughly. You have to clean the whole toilet. It didn’t sweep and mop the floor. Didn’t clean the mirror and glass. Sweeping the corners and edges? Nope.”

A third questioned: “Picking up towels is hardly cleaning the toilets. And who opened the glass door for it to get access to the shower?”

And one with an obvious housekeeping beady eye noted: “The only thing it does well is throw things away, grab a piece of paper and throw it away, grab a towel and throw it away. When it cleans the toilet, it has no strength, it doesn’t even do anything. It just runs things over it and that’s it.”

Final comment goes to the contributor who said: “I don't think hotel cleaners have to worr about losing their jobs just yet.”

They are quite correct about the Zerith demo, but we’ll see what happens in the rapidly changing future. As we’ve come to learn, technology moves fast and some genius brains (human and AI) are on the case to iron out glitches and add more flexibility to their inventions.