Then
and
NOW
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A ROBOT IN
EVERY HOME?
by Tom Carroll
I have a floor to ceiling bookcase in my office that is filled with books on robotics.
Many of the titles are from the ‘70s and ‘80s. One in particular caught my eye
recently — “A Robot in Every Home” by Mike Higgins, published in 1985 by
Kensington Publishing Company. When I bought this book back in the mid ‘80s,
I was thinking that this possibility is just way too cool.
The cover illustration shown in Figure 1 depicts the ‘man of the house’ seated in a chair, reading a book with his
wife dutifully standing behind him. Beside him you can see
the wheeled humanoid robot holding the couple’s smiling
baby with one hand while holding a baby bottle in the
other. Remember, this is 1985 when a ‘home’ robot was
probably a Topo, Hero 1, Hubot, RB5X, or maybe an
Omnibot — none of which any sensible and caring parent
would trust handling their infant child. So, where are these
home robots today?
76 SERVO 12.2011
A Personal
Assistant Robot
The idea of an all-purpose home robot
in my home is a thought that I have
considered quite carefully these past few
months. In the past, a home robot would
have been used as a research platform for
any type of experiment I chose to
perform. However, I recently had a
prostatectomy; the daVinci robot-assisted
operation was quite successful. I will cover
the whole experience in a future article,
but the vision of a truly useful personal
assistant robot has become a more vivid
need to me, as well as for the millions of
others who might need a bit of assistance
in daily living.
A recent article by Krystal D’Costa
from the Scientific American blog site
touted: “A Robot in Every Home? We’re
Getting Close — Will we recognize our
robot overlords when we meet them?” Now, that’s
something to think about. What does the statement: ‘A
robot in every home’ actually mean? Will people perceive
robots as some sort of ‘overlord?’ Let’s face it, there will
never be a robot in every home — not here in the US or
even in Korea where that was the unofficial mandate a few
years back. There is not even basic plumbing or electricity in
every home. That statement really meant that robots would
be available for the vast majority of people, not our entire
populace.
FIGURE 1. Mike Higgins'
A Robot In Every Home.
The Reality of a
Home Robot
Is the thought of a robot in every
home just a pipe dream by a few
individuals who do not have a clue of what
technology is involved to produce a viable
home robot? I am quite sure that there are
some clueless writers who don’t have any
understanding of the complexity of
robotics. However, there are some people
that speak or write about robotics in the
home who have done their research, and
