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household robots latest - leading to utopia or Orwellian nightmare [Turing/Hawking/Musk]

Marianne72

There is a clumsy fascination about the latest household bots, Eggie, Neo, Isaac and Memo. Manufacturers claim 20 years will bring autonomous functioning [rather than 'direction' by humans]. Considering the Backshall/Strachan docu 'Ice Age; Apocolypse', is a future like the one in Silent Running inevitable/desirable/unthinkable? Do you want a mouthless meca washing your smalls, making your marmite sandwich, loading the dishwasher? Is this good use of technology in an age which has not eradicated want/isolation/poverty/war.

  • in reply to Cinnabar_wing
    Cinnabar_wing said:
    I just had a silly thought that the teletubbies used to have that giant vacuum animal thing. 

    I seem to recall it was called "Noo-noo". My memories are rusty, but I think it sometimes hoovered up things it wasn't meant to, and the Teletubbies would say, "Naughty Noo-noo!"

  • in reply to ArchaeC

    I just had a silly thought that the teletubbies used to have that giant vacuum animal thing. 

    Good idea, an animal design might work as we are used to creature companions anyway? It would feel less weird than a robot with no face like Neo et al.

  • in reply to Cinnabar_wing
    Cinnabar_wing said:
    I think the main thing that feels weird is that they are trying to emulate humans, when you could probably design something that isn't like a human that does the job better.

    Yes, that would make sense. I might even be able to tolerate it near me, a bit like I can tolerate the big metal box that does the hardest part of the laundry process, it’s called a washing machine. Maybe a robot home worker should be called a ‘butler machine’ or a ‘housework machine’ and perhaps a design like an elongated octopus would work well. 

  • I think the main thing that feels weird is that they are trying to emulate humans, when you could probably design something that isn't like a human that does the job better.

    Like we have a robot hoover. My husband got it for his birthday, it looks like a chunky frisbee and the controls are on an app. To me, this is acceptable, but I wouldn't like a human size robot going round with the vacuum, that would be creepy.

    Although I read a lot of sci fi, the uncanny valley aspect of robots that are human-like is just too weird in real life.

    I think I'd prefer separate robots that were just good at one thing. Then if they break, it's just one thing broken rather than something that did all the jobs you didn't like going at once.

    I do worry about data collection though.

  • in reply to TheCatWoman
    TheCatWoman said:
    I'd probably hit it.

    That reminds me of the old family TV we had when I was growing up. If the picture started flickering and going on and off, a good whack on the side of the casing put it to rights … for a while. It was incredibly annoying to have a temperamental TV, especially when the picture disappeared while watching something extremely interesting. At the same time, it felt so good to give the TV a hard whack when the picture came back. 

  • in reply to TheCatWoman
    TheCatWoman said:
    I would also worry about what info they're sending back to base?

    That's a good point.

  • If it was possible to order a robotic butler from the likes of Argos, which could tackle household chores that I can find find physically difficult and tiring, then I might be tempted... providing it didn't look like Neo.

    My first thought upon seeing Neo was that it looked like the stuff of nightmares, and reminded me of the character Michael Myers from the Halloween film franchise.

    Yes, it would be great to have a robotic butler that could do the washing-up, load and unload my washing machine, tumble dryer, carry heavy laundry baskets from one part of my house to another, etc. However, I imagine the cost of purchasing one would be eye-watering, and expensive to repair if it malfunctioned.

  • in reply to ArchaeC

    Me too, I would also worry about what info they're sending back to base?

    Being a techoklutz I've not looked into these robots, but because I'm a technoklutz I would trust myself with one, although it might learn some new words from me, and if it really acted up I'd probably hit it.

  • No. There are some chores which can be therapeutic. Also knowing my experience it would probably go wrong and cause more anxiety trying to work out how to get it fixed.

  • I wouldn’t want a household bot that performed like Eggie et.al. as they can’t be trusted to perform their duties without causing damage and their slowness would annoy me. 

    iI would quite like a bot that would reliably change the bed, do the laundry, washing up and cleaning. Then I could spend more time doing the things that I enjoy doing. I wouldn’t want it to come near me and it would need to be aware that it should stay away from me. It would be cheaper to employ a human to do that, but I don’t want people who aren’t friends coming into my home and being intrusive, so a bot appeals to me.