2007 is pretty lame if the best we can do as far as robots for consumers go is the Roomba.  When I was a kid, I assumed that as an adult I’d have a robot that would do my chores and then hang out and watch tv with me.  Instead, what’s out there are a few glorified gadgets and the overly casual use of the word “robot” by consumer America.  The most popular “robot” is the Roomba, which I saw at Target to not have suction enough to suck up even a tiny mess.  It’s pretty much good for bumping into things and scaring pets and in NYC we’ve got mice and cockroaches to do that for free. Yet people are loving the Roomba - they’re naming them and dressing them up and there’s a web site where you can buy outfits for it (http://www.myroombud.com/).  Robots shouldn’t wear clothes.  Androids should wear clothes, but not robots.  Roomba isn’t even a robot anyway.  R2D2 is a robot.  C-3PO is a robot.  Astro Boy is a robot.  Even this guy is closer to being a robot than Roomba is.

Did the robot from your childhood fantasy teach you to do ‘The Robot’?

By GM on January 31, 2008