A humanoid robot just walked into someone’s San Francisco apartment and cleaned it. Yes, really.

Gatsby, a local robotics startup operating under West Egg Labs, says it has completed the first consumer home cleaning by a humanoid robot in the United States. The customer came from Gatsby’s San Francisco waitlist, was picked at random and booked the cleaning through the company’s iOS app.

With Gatsby, instead of buying a pricey robot for your home, you book one when you need it, much like ordering a ride or food delivery from an app.

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HOME ROBOT AUTOMATES HOUSEHOLD CHORES LIKE ROSIE FROM ‘THE JETSONS’

What Gatsby’s humanoid robot cleaning service does

Gatsby describes itself as an on-demand cleaning service in San Francisco that uses humanoid robots instead of human cleaners. You open the iOS app, pick a time and a robot shows up to clean your apartment.

This is not a robot vacuum. Gatsby says it uses full-size humanoid robots that walk through the apartment and handle chores such as dishes, surfaces, floors, making the bed and folding laundry.

The price is also part of the hook. Gatsby says it charges a flat $150 per clean, regardless of apartment size. That means a studio and a penthouse cost the same, with no tips, hidden fees or surcharges, according to the company. Gatsby compares that with typical San Francisco apartment cleaning services, which it says often run from $150 to $300. Gatsby says the robot cleaned the customer’s entire apartment on its own, with no human cleaner physically inside the home. The company also says a typical cleaning takes about 3 hours. One recent San Francisco cleaning ran from 8:42 a.m. to 11:47 a.m., with one robot and no human cleaner physically present.

No human cleaner, but there is a key detail

Gatsby says no human cleaner is physically present during the clean. For anyone who has ever cleaned frantically before the cleaner arrives, that may sound appealing. However, that does not necessarily mean there is no human involvement at all. Gatsby says harder tasks can be handled through remote human teleoperation, while routine work is autonomous. So, while a person may not be standing in your apartment, the service may still involve remote human help.

That detail does not erase the milestone. But it does change how people should think about privacy, trust and what “autonomous” really means inside a home.

Why Gatsby chose house cleaning first

Cleaning makes sense as a starting point because almost everyone has some relationship with it. Some people hate it. Some people outsource it. Others squeeze it in late at night because the day got away from them.

Gatsby founder and CEO Aron Frishberg frames housework as more than an annoying chore. He sees it as a time problem that falls hardest on people who are already stretched thin.

“Housework is the largest unpaid job in human history, and it falls hardest on the people with the least time to give,” Frishberg said. “Right now, somewhere, there’s a parent scrubbing floors who would rather be with their kid. A worker mopping after a sixteen-hour shift. We’ve mapped every neuron and synapse in a fruit fly’s brain, yet we still clean our homes the same way our ancestors did hundreds of years ago. We didn’t build this to clean apartments, we built it to give that time back to humanity.”

Gatsby is taking a robot-agnostic approach

Many humanoid robot companies want to build and sell the machine itself. Gatsby is trying a different route. The company says it is building the consumer distribution layer for humanoid robotics. In other words, Gatsby wants to be the app and service layer that connects customers with whichever humanoid robot performs best.

That could be smart if the robotics market keeps changing quickly. A better robot may arrive six months from now. A cheaper one may show up after that. Gatsby wants the flexibility to swap in stronger hardware while keeping the same app, booking flow and service model. The company describes itself as robot-agnostic. That means Gatsby is not betting everything on one robot body. It wants to work with multiple robot makers as the technology improves.

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The humanoid robot still raises big questions

Home cleaning is brutally hard for robots. Apartments are messy, unpredictable and full of awkward objects. A robot has to deal with chairs, cords, clutter, pets, tight corners and the occasional pile of laundry that nobody wants to discuss.

Gatsby says the robot can handle tasks that go well beyond vacuuming, including dishes, surfaces, floors, bed-making and laundry folding. That sounds impressive. It also raises the bar for reliability. A robot that handles one apartment is a milestone. A robot that can clean many different homes, day after day, without awkward failures is a much bigger challenge.

The privacy angle people should not ignore

Letting any cleaner into your home requires trust. With robots, that trust gets more complicated. Gatsby markets the service as a way to avoid having a stranger physically inside your home. Still, remote assistance raises its own privacy questions. Customers should know what remote operators can see, how home data is handled and whether any video, audio or mapping information is stored.

That does not mean Gatsby is doing anything wrong. It simply means consumers should ask direct questions before letting any connected robot into a private space. Before booking any robotic home service, read the privacy policy, check what data the app collects and think about what parts of the home you are comfortable exposing to a connected device.

What happens if something breaks?

This may be the first question many people ask. A humanoid robot walking through an apartment sounds convenient until you picture it bumping into a lamp, knocking over a vase or dropping a dish.

Gatsby says customers are covered if the robot damages anything during a cleaning, with the company promising to replace items the robot breaks. That is a helpful promise, but customers should still review the fine print before booking.

Robots entering homes may need the same kind of trust-building that ride-sharing and food delivery needed years ago. People want convenience, but they also want accountability when something goes wrong.

Why this could shake up home services

If Gatsby can make this work reliably, the impact could stretch beyond spotless counters. A $150 robot cleaning visit could appeal to busy parents, older adults, people with mobility challenges and anyone who wants help without coordinating with a human cleaner. It could also put pressure on traditional cleaning services, especially in expensive cities where household help already costs a lot.

At the same time, this raises labor questions. Human cleaners already work in a tough market. If robot cleaning becomes cheaper and more convenient, workers could feel that shift first. The near-term reality may be less dramatic. Robots may handle basic tasks while humans continue to do deep cleaning, delicate work and jobs that require judgment. But Gatsby’s first consumer cleaning shows that home robotics has moved from showroom fantasy into someone’s actual apartment.

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Where Gatsby is available now

For now, Gatsby says the service is available only in San Francisco. The company has a waitlist for other cities. That limited rollout gives Gatsby a chance to test the service in real apartments before expanding. It also gives customers, competitors and privacy experts time to see how this model works outside a carefully controlled launch.

What this means to you

For now, this is mainly an early look at where home services may be headed. If you live in San Francisco, Gatsby may already be on your radar. If you live elsewhere, the bigger takeaway is that consumer robots are starting to arrive as services rather than expensive gadgets you have to own.

That could make robot help more accessible. It could also make it easier for companies to test new technology inside real homes. So, treat this as promising but early. Ask practical questions before you get excited. How does the robot enter and leave? What happens if it breaks something? Can a remote operator see inside your home? Does the company record video? Who handles problems if the cleaning falls short? Those answers will matter as much as the robot itself.

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Kurt’s key takeaways

Gatsby’s first humanoid robot cleaning feels like one of those tech moments that sounds funny until you realize it may become normal. A robot showing up to scrub an apartment still feels strange. Then again, so did getting into a stranger’s car through an app. The big question is whether Gatsby can turn a clever first cleaning into a service people actually trust. Price helps. Convenience helps. But homes are personal spaces, and consumers will need more than a shiny robot and a slick app. If Gatsby can deliver clean rooms, clear privacy rules and dependable service, it could change how people think about housework.

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Cecil Baldwin’s résumé includes appearances on Gravity Falls, narrating the documentary Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street, and performing as part of the New York Neo-Futurists theater company. But he is best known as the host of the podcast Welcome to Night Vale, a long-running fiction show that blends macabre Lovecraftian horror with absurdist comedy. As Cecil Palmer, the voice of Night Vale Community Radio, Baldwin keeps the people of the titular town abreast of all the goings ons with the Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home and offers tips on how to best maintain their Bloodstone circles.

He also cohosts Random Number Generator Horror Podcast No. 9 with Night Vale cocreator Jeffrey Cranor, recently directed the play As Sylvia and raises awareness for LGBTQ+ issues and HIV. In short — he’s a busy man. So we’re excited that he found some time to tell us about his tech pet peeves.

What is one thing you wish you could change about your phone?

I wish it were impossible to manually text and drive a vehicle at the same time. We are collectively way worse at it than we think.

What is your happy place online?

Adding books to my Favorite list on Amazon so I remember titles/authors, and then taking that list to my local new and/or used bookstore and buying them there.

Which tech trend do you wish would go away?

Please, I’m begging you, let me watch the credits of the film or television show in peace. I just finished a movie, you don’t need to roll me right into a whole new one. Let me digest for just a second.

What creation are you most proud of?

It would have to be the podcast Welcome to Night Vale, right? It was the acting role that changed the trajectory of my life.

What do you do when you’re feeling stuck?

I will literally say to myself “1, 2, 3, 4, 5…. Walk away.” It’s like an unbinding, spoken out loud when I don’t know how to move forward with a project or I’m stuck in a social media scroll-frenzy that is giving no pleasure. Put it down. Walk away. Focus on something else for a while.

What’s the last piece of physical media you bought?

Picked up a few albums at my local record store: Marianne Faithfull À la Télévision 1965-1967, Jorge Ben Jor Jorge Ben, and Dr John Gris-Gris.

What would the tagline for your biopic be?

Performing authenticity… for real.

What’s the last GIF or meme you used?

You know that feeling. You cleared security, your flight isn’t boarding yet and now you are wandering the airport terminal. You are looking for a seat, an outlet or something to eat that does not feel ridiculously overpriced.

At Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, a new lounge wants to make that dead time feel a lot less dead. Portal Lounge, a new high-tech airport lounge from the founders of Gameway, opened May 28 at MSP.

It blends gaming, dining, music, interactive design and robot-made drinks into a social space built for travelers who want a better way to spend their time before boarding.

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UNUSUAL AIRPORT AMENITY GAINS TRACTION AS PART OF HEALTHY TRAVEL PUSH: ‘MAKES A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE’

Portal Lounge brings high-tech travel to MSP

Portal Lounge comes from Jordan and Emma Walbridge, the entrepreneurs behind Gameway. Their airport gaming concept already operates across nine U.S. airports, with plans to reach 11 locations by the end of the year. 

Portal Lounge takes that gaming idea and expands it into a broader hospitality experience. Instead of building another traditional lounge around silence and exclusivity, the founders designed a social space with energy, entertainment and technology at the center.

The lounge spans 3,800 square feet and can hold about 114 people. It features a portal-inspired entrance, cinematic lighting, art deco-inspired interiors, curated music, custom furnishings and social seating areas. 

Gaming stations turn airport waiting into playtime

One of the biggest tech features is the gaming setup. Portal Lounge includes 17 dedicated gaming stations with Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PlayStation and custom-built gaming PCs.

Travelers can choose from nearly 30 titles across casual, multiplayer, streaming and competitive gameplay. Adults ages 30 to 39 now represent the largest gaming demographic in the U.S. That same group also includes many travelers willing to spend on better airport experiences.

Emma said Gameway helped show how travelers respond when airport downtime becomes more interactive.

“Gameway really showed us how much travelers respond to environments that feel interactive and intentional,” Emma told CyberGuy. “When people are traveling, especially during delays or long layovers, they’re looking for ways to decompress and reset instead of just sitting in another generic waiting area.”

That insight helped shape Portal Lounge beyond gaming alone. Emma said the team wanted the space to feel welcoming, energetic and experience-driven while still offering the comfort travelers expect from a premium lounge.

“The gaming and entertainment elements are part of that, but so is the atmosphere, the food and beverage program, the music, and the overall design of the space,” she said.

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A robot bartender adds airport theater

The robotic bartender will probably get the most attention, and for good reason. Portal Lounge says it is introducing the first robotic bartender of its kind inside a U.S. airport lounge. The robot was developed in Italy and works alongside a traditional bar program. It can prepare cocktails and mocktails while giving travelers something highly visual to watch. That makes it part drink service and part entertainment.

This is where the lounge leans fully into tech-enabled hospitality. The robot does not replace the entire bar experience. Instead, it adds a memorable centerpiece that people will likely record, share and talk about before boarding. In other words, the robot bartender is the hook. The bigger story is how airports are starting to turn waiting into an interactive experience.

How Portal Lounge uses tech beyond the wow factor

“For us, the technology is there to enhance the experience, not overpower it,” Jordan told CyberGuy. “We wanted Portal Lounge to feel modern, social, and experiential in a way that traditional airport lounges really haven’t evolved into yet.”

He said technology touches the full lounge experience, from check-in to entertainment, lighting, music and gaming. “The goal was to create something that feels seamless and immersive from the moment you walk in,” he said.

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Portal Lounge adds food, music and local flavor

Portal Lounge is also trying to move beyond the usual airport food experience. The menu includes chef-driven small plates, regional drinks and cocktails tied to Minnesota. One signature drink, called the “Lag Free,” is a Minnesota-inspired margarita with Honeycrisp apple, maple and citrus notes.

There is also “Prince’s Lemonade,” a zero-proof cocktail inspired by Minnesota music icon Prince. That local touch helps the lounge feel connected to Minneapolis instead of like another airport space that could be anywhere. It also speaks to a bigger travel shift. Many travelers want places that feel memorable, photo-worthy and tied to the city they are passing through.

Why airport lounges are changing

Airport lounges used to be pretty predictable. You got a quieter seat, a snack, Wi-Fi and maybe a drink before your flight. For years, that felt like enough. Now, many travelers want more from the time they spend inside airports. Some lounges are packed. Gate areas can feel chaotic. And when you have an hour or two before boarding, sitting around and staring at a screen gets old fast.

That is where Portal Lounge is trying something different. It operates as an independent common-use lounge instead of an airline-specific club. Travelers can access it through Priority Pass and participating credit card programs, including Chase, American Express and Capital One. Walk-in access is also expected to cost about $70, depending on availability.

That price may make some people pause. For a quick stop before boarding, it may not make sense. But for a long delay, an extended layover or a family with time to burn, the math changes. Portal Lounge is betting that games, food, music and robot-made drinks can make airport waiting feel a lot less like waiting.

Why MSP makes sense for Portal Lounge

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport gives Portal Lounge a strong place to launch this concept. MSP welcomed about 36 million passengers in 2025, and many of them begin their trips there. That means plenty of travelers arrive early, clear security and still have time before boarding.

That extra time is exactly what Portal Lounge is built around. If you are running to your gate, you are probably not stopping for a gaming session or a robot-made mocktail. But if you have 90 minutes to spare, the pitch changes fast. Suddenly, the airport wait does not have to mean sitting shoulder to shoulder at the gate, guarding your bag and watching the minutes crawl by. Portal Lounge is hoping that travelers with time to kill may want something better to do with it.

What this means for you

Portal Lounge could give airport downtime a much-needed upgrade. If you are flying through MSP, it may offer a more entertaining way to wait. You can play games, grab food, listen to curated music and check out a robotic bartender before your flight.

Emma said the goal is for travelers to feel like the lounge changes the way they experience airport time.”We hope travelers walk away feeling like their time at the airport became part of the trip itself, not just time spent waiting for a flight,” she said. “Portal Lounge was designed to create a more immersive, engaging, and entertainment-driven experience, where guests can genuinely relax, connect, and enjoy themselves in a way that feels very different from a traditional airport lounge.”

That sounds appealing, especially if you are facing a delay or traveling with people who get restless before boarding. Still, the coolest lounge in the airport does not help if you miss your flight. Set an alarm, watch the boarding time and do not let one more game turn into a sprint to the gate.

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Your phone holds your email, passwords, photos, banking apps and personal data. In this free, live online class, Kurt the CyberGuy will walk you step by step through simple phone security fixes you can do in real time. You’ll learn how to improve your privacy settings, spot the latest phone scams, use trusted security tools and walk away with a simple checklist to stay protected. Register here: CyberGuyLive.com

Kurt’s key takeaways

Portal Lounge feels like a sign of where airport travel is headed. Travelers no longer want to sit around and stare at a boarding screen for two hours. They want comfort, entertainment and a better use of their time. The robotic bartender will grab attention. But the bigger tech story is the full experience: gaming stations, interactive design, curated music, social seating and a lounge model built around how people actually spend downtime today. Will every traveler want this? Probably not. Some people still want a quiet corner and a strong cup of coffee. But for travelers who see airport time as dead time, Portal Lounge could make the wait feel more useful and a lot more fun.

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Would you pay for a high-tech airport lounge with gaming stations and robot-made drinks, or would you rather save the money and wait at the gate? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.

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Copyright 2026 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved.