Terms of Service

1. What this is

These Terms are the agreement between you and Tau Robotics, Inc. (“Tau,” “we,” “us”) for our humanoid cleaning service. By booking a cleaning, you agree to them.

Our Privacy Policy covers what we record in your home and what we do with it, and is incorporated into this agreement. You should review it before booking. In summary: a human operator views your home in real time through the robot’s cameras, each visit is recorded continuously, and we retain that footage to train our models.

2. The service

A Tau cleaning is performed by a humanoid robot brought to your home by our staff and operated in real time by a trained human operator working from our facility. The robot is not autonomous. A person is controlling it.

Service is currently invite-only.

3. Who can book

You must be at least 18 and either own the property or have the authority to allow a cleaning service into it. If you rent, that is between you and your landlord.

You, or another adult you authorize, must be present in the home for the entire visit. We do not clean unoccupied properties, we do not hold keys, and we do not accept lockbox or door codes.

4. Booking and payment

A cleaning is a one-hour visit for a flat fee of $30.

Payment is processed by Stripe. By booking, you authorize us to charge your payment method for the cleaning and any amounts owed under these Terms.

We charge the full amount at the time of booking.

5. Cancellation and rescheduling

You can cancel or reschedule up to 24 hours before your visit at no charge, and we will refund what you paid in full.

Cancellations inside 24 hours are refunded at 50%.

If we cannot reach you, cannot get into the home, or you are not present when we arrive, that is a no-show and is not refunded.

We may refund you in full in any of these situations at our discretion.

If we cancel or end a visit early. If we cancel before the cleaning starts, we refund you in full. If we end a visit early, we refund you proportionally for the part of the cleaning that was not completed. This includes visits ended under §8.

If the robot or the connection fails. The robot is operated remotely and depends on a working network connection, power, and functioning hardware. If a visit cannot be completed because of a technical failure on our side, we will reschedule the cleaning at no additional charge. If you prefer not to reschedule, we will refund you instead.

6. What you need to do

Before we arrive:

• Be home, and stay home for the visit.
• Secure pets. The robot is a large moving machine and animals react unpredictably to it.
• Put away valuables, fragile items, and anything you do not want a robot working near.
• Tell us at booking about hazards: unstable flooring, steep or open stairs, exposed wiring, recent water damage, anything structurally unsound.
• Make sure the areas to be cleaned are reasonably clear of clutter on the floor.
• Ensure working power and a functioning internet connection at the property. The robot is operated remotely and requires a network connection to work safely.

If you do not tell us about a hazard and it causes damage or injury, we are not responsible for it.

7. What the robot does not do

The robot will not:

• Climb ladders or work at height
• Clean exterior windows or anything outside the home
• Handle biohazards, human or animal waste, mold remediation, or pest infestations
• Move heavy furniture or appliances
• Handle firearms, medications, drug paraphernalia, or cash
• Work in rooms you have not included in the booking

The robot can move ordinary items such as chairs, laundry baskets, and small tables in order to clean around them.

Bedrooms and bathrooms are excluded unless you opt in at booking.

8. We can stop or refuse a cleaning

Our operator will end a visit if:

• Conditions are unsafe for the robot, for you, or for anyone else present
• Someone in the home objects to the robot or the cameras
• The network connection is not good enough to operate safely
• Anyone in the home is abusive toward our staff
• We encounter something illegal

You or anyone else present can ask the operator to stop at any time, for any reason, and the operator will end the session. If the visit is ended at your request, or at the request of someone else in the home, it is not refunded, though we may refund you at our discretion.

If we end a visit early under this section, we refund you as described in §5.

9. Recording

Every cleaning is recorded. Your operator watches live. We keep the footage and use it to train our models. There is no version of this service without recording.

Anyone else who lives in the home should be told before we arrive. You are the one who can tell them; we cannot.

Full detail is in our Privacy Policy.

10. Rights in the recordings

You give us a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free license to use footage, telemetry, and other data recorded during your visits to operate, develop, train, and improve our robots, models, and services.

We will not publish or publicly display footage that identifies you or your home without your written permission. Internal use, model training, and review by our contracted service providers are covered by the license above and do not require separate permission.

11. If we did a poor job

Tell us within 48 hours of the visit and we will come back and re-clean the areas at no charge. If we cannot schedule a re-clean within a reasonable time, we will refund you instead.

This covers the quality of the cleaning. If something was damaged, see §12. If someone was hurt, see §13.

12. If something gets damaged

Tell us within 48 hours of the visit. Send photographs and a description to bookings@tau-robotics.com.

We will investigate, including reviewing the recording of the visit, and respond within 7 business days.

If our robot or our operator caused the damage, we will repair it, replace the item, or reimburse you for its fair market value, at our option. Fair market value means what the item is worth now, not what it cost new. What we pay under this section is subject to the limit in §14.

We are not responsible for:

• Damage from conditions you did not disclose
• Pre-existing damage or normal wear
• Items that were already broken, unstable, or improperly mounted
• Damage from a pet that was not secured
• Anything reported more than 48 hours after the visit

13. If someone is hurt

Tell your operator immediately: they are present through the robot and can end the session and get help. Then follow up in writing to bookings@tau-robotics.com.

We will preserve the recording of the visit and investigate what happened. We will give you a copy of the relevant footage on request.

Nothing in these Terms limits our responsibility for injury caused by our negligence. See §14.

14. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by California law:

Our total liability to you for any claim arising out of a cleaning is limited to $2,500.

We are not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, or loss of use.

What this does not limit. Nothing in these Terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, for willful injury, or for anything else that cannot be limited under California Civil Code §1668 or other applicable law.

15. Your indemnity

You will indemnify us against claims arising from your breach of these Terms, hazards you failed to disclose, injuries to third parties you invited into the home during a visit, and claims by other occupants that you did not inform them recording would occur.

16. No employment relationship

Our operators and staff are employed by Tau or by a staffing agency we contract with. They are not your employees, and you have no obligations to them as an employer.

17. Ending the relationship

You can stop using the service at any time. We can suspend or end your access at any time, with or without reason. If we end your access while you have a cleaning booked that has not yet happened, we refund it in full. Cancellations and refunds for individual visits are governed by §5.

18. Disputes

Talk to us first. Before filing anything, email bookings@tau-robotics.com with a description of the problem. Most things resolve here. Neither of us will start a formal proceeding until 30 days after that notice.

Arbitration. If we cannot resolve it, disputes will be settled by binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, in San Francisco, before one arbitrator. Judgment on the award may be entered in any court with jurisdiction.

Small claims. Either of us can bring a qualifying claim in small claims court instead. Nothing here prevents that.

Fees. Tau will pay the arbitration filing and administrative fees for consumer claims, except that the arbitrator may reallocate fees for a claim found frivolous.

No class actions. Claims are brought individually. Neither of us will participate in a class, collective, consolidated, or representative proceeding.

Public injunctive relief. Claims for public injunctive relief are excluded from arbitration and may be brought in court. If this sentence is held unenforceable, it is severable, and the rest of this section survives.

Opt out. You may reject this arbitration section by emailing bookings@tau-robotics.com within 30 days of first agreeing to these Terms. Rejecting it does not affect anything else.

19. Governing law

California law governs, without regard to conflict of laws rules. For anything not subject to arbitration, the courts in San Francisco County have exclusive jurisdiction.

20. Events outside our control

We are not liable for failing to perform, or for delay in performing, where the cause is outside our reasonable control. That includes natural disasters, fire, flood, earthquake, extreme weather, power or internet outages affecting our facility, labor disputes, civil unrest, acts of government, and public health emergencies.

If something like this prevents a cleaning, we will reschedule it at no additional charge, or refund you if you prefer not to reschedule.

21. Changes

We may change these Terms. Material changes will be emailed to you before they take effect and will apply to bookings made after that date.

22. Everything else

What survives. §9 (Recording), §10 (Rights in the recordings), §12 (If something gets damaged), §13 (If someone is hurt), §14 (Limitation of liability), §15 (Your indemnity), §18 (Disputes), §19 (Governing law), and this section remain in effect after these Terms end, however they end. The license in §10 is perpetual and is not affected by your account closing or by your ending the service.

If a provision is unenforceable, the rest survives. Our failure to enforce something is not a waiver. These Terms and our Privacy Policy for the cleaning service are the entire agreement between us with respect to that service. Our website is governed by separate terms and a separate privacy policy. These Terms are between you and Tau, and no one else has any right to enforce them. You may not assign your rights under them; we may assign ours in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.

23. Contact

Tau Robotics, Inc.
San Francisco, California
bookings@tau-robotics.com