The short answer: several robots have been shown finding an object and bringing it to someone, and one robot sold in mainland China is described by its vendor as already doing a version of this in customers’ homes. Outside mainland China, the only one you can order is on preorder in the US; none has been announced for any other market this site tracks.
This site has not tested any of these robots. Everything below comes from what vendors and the press have published, labelled by how well it is established.
What the task involves, and why it is hard for a robot
“Bring me a drink” is several problems at once. The robot has to understand what is being asked (which may be vague, as in “I’m thirsty”), work out where that kind of object is likely to be, get there through a home built for people, pick out the right object among many, grip it without spilling or dropping it, and carry it back to a person who may have moved.
Each of these is hard on its own in a home. Homes are cluttered and arranged differently from one another, objects are placed at random, and a robot has to perceive and navigate around obstacles and people while looking for its target.1 Stairs, narrow passages and high shelves limit where some robots can go at all.1
What the state of the art actually is
The claims below are graded on three levels, the same ones used on every robot page:
- Shipped: the vendor says customers are using the robot for this.
- Demonstrated: shown in video, at an event or to the press, but not established in customers’ homes.
- Claimed: stated, but not yet shown.
One fetching claim is at the shipped level, from a robot sold only in mainland China. The rest are demonstrated.
Which robots attempt it
On preorder in the US
- NEO (1X Technologies): 1X says NEO “Opens doors, fetches items, and turns off lights on request.” Demonstrated. For chores NEO has not learned, 1X offers a remote human operator to guide it.
On sale in mainland China only
- GR-3 (Fourier Intelligence): described as understanding a need stated in everyday language, such as “I’m thirsty”, locating a suitable drink or object in the home and delivering it. Demonstrated. Fourier presents GR-3 as a care and companionship robot. Orders opened in mainland China in September 2025; that it is on sale there rests on the vendor’s word, and no price has been published.
- Futuring 2 (Futuring Robot): the vendor says it serves tea and water, retrieves deliveries and packages, and helps locate items on request (demonstrated), and that it reminds older household members about medication and helps deliver it to them (shipped, according to the vendor). This site records that claim; it does not give advice on medication or care.
- Bajie (Ecovacs): shown fetching and handing over a requested object. Demonstrated. Ecovacs sells Bajie as an open development platform rather than as a finished household product.
What a buyer should realistically expect today
Fetching is usually shown as a single, well-lit request with the object in plain view. In a real home, the harder cases are the object that is in a different room, behind something, or not where it was last time. When you watch a demonstration, look for whether the robot had to search.
Also check the robot’s reach and what it can carry. These are recorded on each robot’s page where the vendor has published them.
Notes
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The Ohio State University News (Ayonga Hereid), “Why household robot servants are so hard to build”, 2022-09-22. https://news.osu.edu/why-household-robot-servants-are-so-hard-to-build/ ↩ ↩2
Written from the dataset; last updated 2026-09-27.