About
Where ELM Comes From
Hearthwork is a small team of engineers, knitters and former carers, working from an old workshop in Bristol. We began with one question: what would a household robot have to be like before you’d happily share a room with it?
We’re making a helper gentle enough to live with and useful enough to keep, so evenings at home feel lighter.
Our Story
How We Got Here
Kitchen Table Sketches
Three of us began sketching a softer kind of robot at a kitchen table, with wool samples and cardboard joints.
The First Knit Shell
We knitted our first full-body shell and learned how much a fabric covering changes the way people react.
Joints That Give
We switched to cable-driven joints that give a little when an arm brushes a shoulder, a hip or a doorframe.
Into Real Homes
ELM moved into volunteer homes, where trained guides used Guided Mode to teach it new jobs, with each family’s approval.
Early Access Opens
Early access opened, and the first households joined a waiting list for deliveries from 2027.
Values
What We Hold To
Bristol
Built Where We Live
We design, knit and test ELM a short walk from the harbour, in the city where we cook, tidy and run out of evenings like everyone else. If something annoys us in our own hallways, we change it before it reaches yours.
Stay a While
Read workshop notes and updates in the Journal, or see whether there’s a place for you on the team in Careers.