The Readybot challenge was stated by a group of Silicon Valley engineers with the goal of creating a robot that could take over the mundane task of cleaning the kitchen. The Readybot Challenge is an effort likened to the DARPS Grand Challenge robot race car.

The goal of the challenge is simple enough, clean the kitchen. "People ask what will be the breakthrough application for consumer robotics," comments Tom Benson, team leader, "we think people want a robot that can clean the kitchen."

The Readybot itself is a dishwasher sized device that is designed to fit into the same space as a dishwasher in the kitchen .The robot deploys several cameras and raises itself to human height. It then cleans the counters, dumps food off plates and loads the dishwasher. The challenge would compare the percentage of the kitchen each robot can clean.

Via Readybot