Sir James Dyson plans to make robots for all

[Still Waters]

We are on the brink of a “brave new world” where robots will be able to do anything a human can, Sir James Dyson said as he revealed that he is working toward creating an affordable household android able to carry out menial chores.

http://www.telegraph...old-robots.html

http://www.thesunday...icle1373768.ece

[libstaK]

Woo Hoo, bring it on - no more menial household chores

[ancient astronaut]

If I could get one to load and unload the dishwasher, that would be great.

[Sundew]

I'm guessing they will vacuum your floors ONLY with a Dyson vacuum!

If robots take over all the menial tasks, look form more obesity, more heart disease, etc. There needs to be some reason to get our lazy butts off the couch, at least once in a while. However, for the elderly, the handicapped, the blind it would be a great help.

I personally think that one day robots could be programed to something less menial: to control invasive species. In the southeastern U.S. there is an invasive plant called Kudzu, an Asiatic vine that grows feet per day and covers everything in its path. We have not yet found a viable biological control for it, but imagine an army of small robots equipped with cutting devices that would repeatedly seek out and cut the vine off at the ground until it finally dies. The trick would be programing the robots to kill Kudzu and Kudzu alone. They could return to a charging station every night and moved around as needed. It would seem a better use of resources to use robots, not to do things we can do for ourselves, but to solve problems where we have difficulty.

[Skep B]

Nope, not buying into it.

call me a caveman, but this sort of thing makes me really *** nervous

[aquatus1]

Don't be silly, Dave. They'll take good care of you.

[keithisco]

...will they be cheaper than Servants? :whistle:

[twobytwice]

What will the Mexicans do?

[Dark_Grey]

What will the Mexicans do?

I was wondering about that this morning, actually. It looks like eventually robots will be the cheapest form of labor. When that happens, what will happen to the millions of slave laborers in China, India, Taiwan, etc. we depend on currently to make the cheap goods?

[Professor Buzzkill]

I was wondering about that this morning, actually. It looks like eventually robots will be the cheapest form of labor. When that happens, what will happen to the millions of slave laborers in China, India, Taiwan, etc. we depend on currently to make the cheap goods?

Heck, what will happen if robots worked on building sites, offices, etc. We would all be out of a job and starving all in the name of profit to a faceless organization

[Xynoplas]

Due to the aging of our population, we are going to need robots in nursing homes.

http://asq.org/qualitynews/qnt/execute/displaySetup?newsID=16207

[schizoid78]

Yeah yeah, and the same kind of article will be popping up in two decades, annoncing the same thing....

Shouldn't we be flying car for a couple of decades by now, considering pronostic in the 70s....

Schizo

[Dark_Grey]

Yeah yeah, and the same kind of article will be popping up in two decades, annoncing the same thing....

Shouldn't we be flying car for a couple of decades by now, considering pronostic in the 70s....

Schizo

In the 70's we weren't doubling our processing power every 2 years. In the 70's we didn't have the level of instant global communication we have today. Technology was a small snowball that started at the top of a mountain...as we approach the bottom, that snowball has become an avalanche of innovation that continues to pick up speed.

Comparing visions of the future now vs. then is comparing apples and oranges...robotics is the name of the technological game and artificial intelligence will be the end result. Make no mistake about it: the world we live in now will seem so archaic in 40 years. Don't believe me? Look how far cell phones have come in 10 years.

10 years ago we had flip-phones - now I can ask my phone any question and it will find me an answer and I can see and talk to someone on the other side of the planet like they were right in front of me, simply by taking this slim little device out of my pocket.

Edited February 11, 2014 by Dark_Grey