4 ms·

How long until a robot is doing your chores?

9 points by edward 3y ago

JohnFen 3y ago
Some are. I have a robot that vacuums my floor, a robot that washes my dishes, etc. Sure, they aren't humanoid and are special-purpose, but I suspect that's how it will always be. One general-purpose humanoid robot seems like it will always be more complex, and therefore more expensive, than a small set of single-purpose robots that have a form factor optimized for their purpose.
- kthartic 3y ago
  True, but imagine a decade or so down the line where well-off families could purchase a general purpose robot butler for $20k (Elon Musk's target price for the Tesla Bot) or $30k (about the price of a Honda Civic) - why wouldn't you? Some chores it could do for you: * Taking the kids to school * Preparing a meal plan for the coming week and getting the groceries from the store * Making dinner * Setting the table * Clearing the table + doing the dishes * General tidying up after humans throughout the day * Dealing with washing and drying my laundry * Folding and putting away my laundry * Collecting my wedding suit from the dry cleaners
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    I suppose people might want that sort of thing as a display of wealth, but it still appears to me that all of those tasks would be performed better by special-purpose robots instead. I can think of a lot of better uses for that $20-$30k, even if that's a tiny fraction of my disposable wealth. But I don't know. Wealthy people often do things with their money that appear to be crazy to me.
  - lacrimacida 3y ago
    You forgot spying on you, changes in behavior after updates and having corporate ears and eyes in your household. I think robots will make a lot more inroads into industrial settings (already did), humans prefer other humans around their families. Same thing with resturants, people prefer to be served by other people
    - kthartic 3y ago
      > You forgot spying on you, changes in behavior after updates and having corporate ears and eyes in your household That's already a possibility with your existing devices, yet everyone seems to have adopted them en masse. I agree we should be careful, but a large % of consumers will forget or deprioritize privacy concerns over convenience. See self-driving cars that have a zillion cameras inside & out, smart phones (an endless list of physical sensors and software analytics), smart speakers with microphones, laptops with webcams, online stores that track your habits, etc.
xhkkffbf 3y ago
I've got a dishwasher, a clothes washer, a Roomba, etc. I would say we're already here.
- staticman2 3y ago
  It's not clear a dishwasher meets the definition of robot. Actually depending on the definition you pick, a Roomba doesn't necessarily meet it either.
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    What is your definition of "robot"? I think a robot is a machine that can accomplish a task with autonomy. By that definition, a dishwasher and roomba are both robots. This dictionary even includes machines that are operated by remote control as "robots", although I disagree with that. They seem closer to waldos to me.
    - staticman2 3y ago
      The first definition on google is "(especially in science fiction) a machine resembling a human being and able to replicate certain human movements and functions automatically." The second is "a machine capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically, especially one programmable by a computer." Arguably a dishwasher is not complex enough to meet the second definition, and it certainly doesn't meet the first. It's pretty much unheard of for people to call dishwashers robots, (as opposed to vacuums which are marketed as robots) so I think there's a strong argument it fits neither definition. Would you call a windmill a robot?
      - JohnFen 3y ago
        > a machine resembling a human being and able to replicate certain human movements and functions automatically. I'd call that an android, which is a subset of robots in general > Would you call a windmill a robot? No, I'd call a windmill a power plant. To be honest, I have a problem squaring most dictionary definitions with how I hear people talk about robots (but most of the people I hear talk about robots are robotics people), so I don't put a lot of stock in them, really. To me, a dishwasher is unambiguously a robot, just a simple one. But, really, none of this actually matters much. It's just semantics.
autoexec 3y ago
I'm sure it wont be too long before commercial products are available, but I won't be buying them since I have no doubt that they'll be recording every sound with ultra sensitive microphones and collecting video of everyone and everything in my home and continuously sending that data back to multiple companies who will use and sell that data so that ultimately it gets used against me. Basically robots won't be doing my chores until there's a version that I can reasonably verify isn't going to be used against me. That means fully open and modifiable source code that doesn't depend on anything in the cloud and hardware that can be audited to make sure data isn't leaking. Unless someone can give me a robot that works fully offline, doesn't send any data to anyone else, and only does what I want it to no matter how anyone else feels about it I'm not interested. I have a feeling there won't be any widely available commercial product that meets that criteria for a very very long time.
- scotty79 3y ago
  Still better than paying human to do the same with even more risks involved
  - autoexec 3y ago
    The main risk of a hired maid/butler is basically theft. Maybe it's happened, but as far as I know, no hired maid has bugged a home and allowed random low paid contractors to listen to their employers having sex but Alexa did that at a massive scale. Can you name a hired butler who sent a continuous stream of photos and video to the police without their employer's consent like ring cameras have? The scale and degree of harm caused by companies and the state spying on you 24/7 is far far worse than a single human who might pocket some trinket. If a housekeeper steals something I can fire them, recover or replace what was taken, and that's the end of it. Once your data gets out though there's no clawing it back, or knowing who has it, or what they're using it for. It will be used against you again and again for the rest of your life. No thanks. I'd rather stick with humans who work for me rather than pay to let companies exploit me.
    - scotty79 3y ago
scotty79 3y ago
Why not design things to eliminate chores altogether?
- euroderf 3y ago
  Or simplify them. I've seen (on the web) an all-plastic living room. Plastic chairs, table, walls. Plus a drain. After a big party, just hose it all down!
  - scotty79 3y ago
    I'd throw some thin non-iron fabric on this to prevent scratches and dus settling when the furniture is in use that you can just toss into the washer-dryer when it gets dirty.

9 points by edward 3y ago

Some are. I have a robot that vacuums my floor, a robot that washes my dishes, etc. Sure, they aren't humanoid and are special-purpose, but I suspect that's how it will always be. One general-purpose humanoid robot seems like it will always be more complex, and therefore more expensive, than a small set of single-purpose robots that have a form factor optimized for their purpose.

kthartic 3y ago
True, but imagine a decade or so down the line where well-off families could purchase a general purpose robot butler for $20k (Elon Musk's target price for the Tesla Bot) or $30k (about the price of a Honda Civic) - why wouldn't you? Some chores it could do for you: * Taking the kids to school * Preparing a meal plan for the coming week and getting the groceries from the store * Making dinner * Setting the table * Clearing the table + doing the dishes * General tidying up after humans throughout the day * Dealing with washing and drying my laundry * Folding and putting away my laundry * Collecting my wedding suit from the dry cleaners
- JohnFen 3y ago
  I suppose people might want that sort of thing as a display of wealth, but it still appears to me that all of those tasks would be performed better by special-purpose robots instead. I can think of a lot of better uses for that $20-$30k, even if that's a tiny fraction of my disposable wealth. But I don't know. Wealthy people often do things with their money that appear to be crazy to me.
- lacrimacida 3y ago
  You forgot spying on you, changes in behavior after updates and having corporate ears and eyes in your household. I think robots will make a lot more inroads into industrial settings (already did), humans prefer other humans around their families. Same thing with resturants, people prefer to be served by other people
  - kthartic 3y ago
    > You forgot spying on you, changes in behavior after updates and having corporate ears and eyes in your household That's already a possibility with your existing devices, yet everyone seems to have adopted them en masse. I agree we should be careful, but a large % of consumers will forget or deprioritize privacy concerns over convenience. See self-driving cars that have a zillion cameras inside & out, smart phones (an endless list of physical sensors and software analytics), smart speakers with microphones, laptops with webcams, online stores that track your habits, etc.

xhkkffbf 3y ago

I've got a dishwasher, a clothes washer, a Roomba, etc. I would say we're already here.

staticman2 3y ago
It's not clear a dishwasher meets the definition of robot. Actually depending on the definition you pick, a Roomba doesn't necessarily meet it either.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  What is your definition of "robot"? I think a robot is a machine that can accomplish a task with autonomy. By that definition, a dishwasher and roomba are both robots. This dictionary even includes machines that are operated by remote control as "robots", although I disagree with that. They seem closer to waldos to me.
  - staticman2 3y ago
    The first definition on google is "(especially in science fiction) a machine resembling a human being and able to replicate certain human movements and functions automatically." The second is "a machine capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically, especially one programmable by a computer." Arguably a dishwasher is not complex enough to meet the second definition, and it certainly doesn't meet the first. It's pretty much unheard of for people to call dishwashers robots, (as opposed to vacuums which are marketed as robots) so I think there's a strong argument it fits neither definition. Would you call a windmill a robot?
    - JohnFen 3y ago
      > a machine resembling a human being and able to replicate certain human movements and functions automatically. I'd call that an android, which is a subset of robots in general > Would you call a windmill a robot? No, I'd call a windmill a power plant. To be honest, I have a problem squaring most dictionary definitions with how I hear people talk about robots (but most of the people I hear talk about robots are robotics people), so I don't put a lot of stock in them, really. To me, a dishwasher is unambiguously a robot, just a simple one. But, really, none of this actually matters much. It's just semantics.

autoexec 3y ago

I'm sure it wont be too long before commercial products are available, but I won't be buying them since I have no doubt that they'll be recording every sound with ultra sensitive microphones and collecting video of everyone and everything in my home and continuously sending that data back to multiple companies who will use and sell that data so that ultimately it gets used against me. Basically robots won't be doing my chores until there's a version that I can reasonably verify isn't going to be used against me. That means fully open and modifiable source code that doesn't depend on anything in the cloud and hardware that can be audited to make sure data isn't leaking. Unless someone can give me a robot that works fully offline, doesn't send any data to anyone else, and only does what I want it to no matter how anyone else feels about it I'm not interested. I have a feeling there won't be any widely available commercial product that meets that criteria for a very very long time.

scotty79 3y ago
Still better than paying human to do the same with even more risks involved
- autoexec 3y ago
  The main risk of a hired maid/butler is basically theft. Maybe it's happened, but as far as I know, no hired maid has bugged a home and allowed random low paid contractors to listen to their employers having sex but Alexa did that at a massive scale. Can you name a hired butler who sent a continuous stream of photos and video to the police without their employer's consent like ring cameras have? The scale and degree of harm caused by companies and the state spying on you 24/7 is far far worse than a single human who might pocket some trinket. If a housekeeper steals something I can fire them, recover or replace what was taken, and that's the end of it. Once your data gets out though there's no clawing it back, or knowing who has it, or what they're using it for. It will be used against you again and again for the rest of your life. No thanks. I'd rather stick with humans who work for me rather than pay to let companies exploit me.
  - scotty79 3y ago

scotty79 3y ago

Why not design things to eliminate chores altogether?

euroderf 3y ago
Or simplify them. I've seen (on the web) an all-plastic living room. Plastic chairs, table, walls. Plus a drain. After a big party, just hose it all down!
- scotty79 3y ago
  I'd throw some thin non-iron fabric on this to prevent scratches and dus settling when the furniture is in use that you can just toss into the washer-dryer when it gets dirty.