Research Paper - Hooray for Robots!
In this day and age, technology has provided several domestic robots to perform everyday tasks such as vacuuming the floor (http://www.irobot.com/sp.cfm?pageid=122), mowing the lawn (http://www.friendlyrobotics.com/), or functioning as a security system. As semi-independent mechanical devices, these robots can drastically reduce the amount of work that humans are required to do; however, one thing that is missing from the plethora of robots provided is a machine that can operate other machines. A robot that successfully performs complicated processes would be an outstanding innovation in the engineering world. Creating a robot that can transfer and hang laundry is an example of such a robot.
Today’s market does boast one robot that can perform complex tasks: Honda’s Asimo (http://corporate.honda.com/innovation/asimo/index.aspx). The Asimo is a humanoid robot that can successfully carry, run, and perform facial recognition. Its price soars to a ridiculous height. Other robots that are available as well as affordable can only perform simple tasks that are for entertainment only. A current entertainment robot for sale is the WowWees RoboSapien (http://www.robosapienonline.com/). The Banryu by Tmsuk, Inc., vacuuming robot by iRobot, and the RoboMower from Friendly Robotics are examples of affordable domestic robots that perform simple tasks. The robot we are developing could be the first step to a robot with the ability of the Asimo and the affordability of the iRobot Roomba.
Once robots become widespread, the versatility and flexibility of a human lifestyle will increase in leaps and bounds. Leisure time will expand as housewives need only to watch their robots run errands, do the laundry, sweep the house, and clean up their children’s rooms, if even that! Businessmen will only increase in productiveness as human secretaries are replaced by robots that can take a dictation perfectly, do a mailing in minutes, and keep perfect track of every single appointment ever made—or canceled—by their clients—and their colleagues’ clients, too.
And the improvements in the businesses themselves! What a revolution when one can just go to the store and ask a robot to get a particular brand or a particular article for the cheapest—or second cheapest—price, or to get this but be sure to avoid that. Or, even simpler, send their own robot to tell the store robot to get this and avoid that! What will humans do with themselves when artificial intelligence takes over the world? But for now, we must be satisfied with the pros and cons of a robot such as the Asimo for everyday tasks, the RoboSapien for entertainment, and the PatrolBot (http://www.activerobots.com/BldgPropty/patrolbot.html) for security purposes. And so, as for ‘pros’:
Many are as were mentioned above, although not to such an extent—it may be a few years before robots can tell each other what their owners wish to purchase. But to a certain extent, yes, artificial intelligence will make humanity’s life much easier. Is it not pleasant to sit and watch a robot lawn mower mow the lawn? Never mind that one must walk the perimeter of the lawn with it first, so that it doesn’t run into anything, and even then one must worry that it will mow down one’s wife’s roses. And isn’t it even more pleasant to come home to a happy wife or mother, one without stress or a bad mood from cleaning the house because she just set her Roomba to all the rooms in the house and then went out for coffee with her friends? And isn’t it nice, if one is wealthy enough (if one has 18,000 dollars or more lying around to persuade Honda to sell an Asimo, that is), to have a semi-responsive robot to chat with on those lonely nights when everyone else has gone out? And finally, for businessmen: isn’t it convenient (once again, if one is a wealthy businessman) not to have to pay a—well—human human, one who can make mistakes and miss things, to run security for you, and have a (hopefully) faultless robot do it instead, for free?
In spite of all these positive things, though, there are still the little ‘catches’ that come with every piece of new technology. After all, there is always that chance that the RoboMower will run over one’s wife’s roses! Or what if one comes home to a very sour wife after she came home from that chat with her friends at the coffee shop to find that the Roomba had run low on battery, hadn’t cleaned the house, and her children were coming home from school, dinner wasn’t started—and the house was still dirty? Or perhaps one isn’t wealthy enough to buy an Asimo! Or maybe one is, but the Asimo isn’t pleasant at all, but rather annoying, agreeing with everything one says to the point that one throws it out the window of one’s three-story mansion? And lastly: what if that oh-so-perfect security robot is sabotaged digitally from a potential criminal’s car and then one’s business is broken into anyway—and that useless but valuable security robot is stolen for the use of the nearest chop shop?
And very lastly: what if none of those things happen, but while one is away from home, or is at home but away from the security robot, and one cannot stop worrying that all those horrible things will happen? What a way to ruin one’s day (or evening)!
In conclusion, as evidenced above, robots can be a blessing—or a trial. All one can do is pray for patience, take a hefty stress-reducer, and enjoy the leisure a robot enjoys—and ignore the fact that one’s roses are gone, the Roomba is stalling, and there is a jumbled mess of Asimo parts on the driveway of one’s three-story mansion. Enjoy what leisure one has!
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