Nori A3 – Affordable bimanual robot for home and office at

TL;DR

TL;DR: Nori A3 is a YC S26-backed bimanual robot for home and office, priced at $1,688 with no deposit, shipping fall 2026. Made in San Francisco.

Source and Accuracy Notes

All specs verified directly from norirobotics.com and the Launch HN thread.

• Project page: norirobotics.com
• Source repository: None (hardware product, no public repo)
• License: Proprietary
• HN launch thread: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49525153
• YC batch: Y Combinator S26 — verified via Launch HN title and YC badge on product site

What Is Nori A3?

Nori A3 is an affordable bimanual robot designed for everyday home and office tasks. The company, Nori Robotics, positions it as the most capable robot at its price point — $1,688 full price, no deposit required, ships fall 2026.

The robot features two 7+1 degree-of-freedom arms with 1.5kg payload capacity each, a 12-meter lidar sensor with 8-12Hz scanning, four 720p RGB cameras mounted across the grippers, head, and neck, plus a speaker and microphone for voice commands. Battery life is rated at 6–8 hours.

Key tasks the robot handles include kitchen assistance, tidying, fetching items from the fridge, loading dishes, folding clothes, and pouring ingredients.

The company also operates a Skills Marketplace where users can train the robot at home and share learned skills with other Nori owners.

Hardware Specifications

From the product site’s specs section, verified against the page HTML:

Component	Specification
Arms	7+1 DOF per arm, 1.5kg payload
Lidar	12m range, 8–12Hz, 0.72-degree angular resolution at 10Hz
Cameras	x4 720p RGB, up to 30fps, mounted on grippers, head, neck
Audio	Speaker and microphone for spoken commands
Battery	6–8 hours
Origin	Assembled in San Francisco, USA
Price	$1,688 full price

Pricing and Availability

Nori Robotics sells the A3 at a flat $1,688 with no deposit required. The company emphasizes transparency in pricing — no hidden fees, no subscription. Preorders are open now with shipping targeted for fall 2026.

Practical Evaluation Checklist

• Price point is clear and upfront — no hidden costs found in source HTML
• Hardware specs are publicly listed on the product site
• Skills Marketplace suggests a community-driven extensibility model
• No self-hosted server component mentioned (cloud-dependent for operation)
• Made in the USA claim is visible in the product page footer

Security Notes

Nori A3 operates via the Nori Lab laptop application. As a networked robotic system with cameras, microphones, and cloud connectivity, users should follow Nori’s data handling guidelines. No third-party security audit reports were found in the public Launch HN thread.

FAQ

Q: Does Nori require a monthly subscription? A: No. The $1,688 is a one-time full price with no deposit and no subscription fee mentioned on the product site.

Q: What can Nori A3 actually do out of the box? A: The robot ships with a set of base skills including kitchen assistance, tidying, fetching, loading dishes, folding clothes, and pouring ingredients. Additional skills can be trained via the Nori Lab app or downloaded from the Skills Marketplace.

Q: Where is it manufactured? A: Assembled in San Francisco, USA, as confirmed on the product site.

Q: Is it a humanoid robot? A: The product site describes it as a “bimanual robot” — two-arm system designed for desk-height home and office tasks. The Launch HN title uses “humanoid robot” but the company’s own framing is specifically bimanual.

Conclusion

Nori A3 fills an interesting gap in the personal robotics market — a sub-$2,000 bimanual robot with a full hardware spec sheet and a skills-sharing community. The no-deposit pricing and made-in-USA assembly are distinguishing factors against cheaper, less capable alternatives. With shipping targeting fall 2026, the product is in active pre-order. Watch the Skills Marketplace closely after launch — that ecosystem is what will determine long-term utility.