Not the person you responded to, but I think I see where they are coming from and agree: we don't call them robots because we are used to them and have a specific name. I don't see how they aren't robots, unless we are defining robots as having a specific kind of manipulator.
Aren’t we discussing robots vs machines?
I think their point was that if the dishwasher was made so that mechanical hands picked up a dish, washed it, rinsed it, dried it, then set it aside before picking up the next dish and doing the same, we would call that a robot.
That is the only consumer facing device you mentioned. I know we have industrial robots, so I’ll skip debating where we draw the line.
Once we get to the Apple II of home robots, consumer spending will fuel the rapid development, and “robots”, will become more intelligent and agile