"A robot attempting to clean a kitchen will face a number of challenges that seem trivial to humans. For example, kitchens can be arranged in any number of ways, but I'm sure you could walk into any kitchen and find the cutlery almost immediately.
"A robotic maid would need to be able to operate a fridge and dishwasher, which is a monumental task. Even finding the appliance would be a challenge because of the vast array of appearances it could take, due to the brand of the device, the fact that the door may be open or closed, and, if open, the possibility of the appliance being full of dishes or food or not.
"The robot would then need to know how to operate every make and model of appliance, all of which will behave slightly differently."
Mr Corbett-Davies has been labelled one of the top scholars of the last 10 years in the mechatronics course, said his supervisor Professor Geoff Chase.
While studying, he helped develop a large, interactive virtual spider to help people overcome arachnophobia.
"In primary school I was playing with a lot of Lego and K'Nex and I really enjoyed that sort of stuff and as I went through school I realised I had to do all sorts of education if I wanted to get into robotics," said Mr Corbett-Davies.
His study at Stanford will take five years and he hoped for the chance to work on exciting and ground breaking projects, he said.
Mr Corbett-Davies was one of three members in his class of 21 students to receive Fulbright scholarships, and he has also been granted a JR Templin Trust Scholarship.