DailyDirt: More Robot Servants Will Be Nice…

Computers

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Robots are getting better at performing complex tasks all the time. It won’t be too long before they can drive cars and deliver packages (and replace about a quarter of a million human workers who drive for UPS/FedEx/USPS/etc). The technology isn’t quite there yet, but it doesn’t seem to be too far off in the future. However, we’re nowhere near seeing a Rosie the Robot servant, predicted in the 1960s, but we’re getting closer. Check out these marginally helpful robots for the home that could beat flying cars and pneumatic tube transportation to becoming a reality.

• Laundroid is a machine about the size of a refrigerator that can fold your laundry… very slowly. It’s currently just a prototype, but maybe in a couple of decades it’ll just be part of your washer/dryer setup.
• Boston Dynamics has another cool video of an even smaller version of its “robot dogs” — and its SpotMini has a creepy appendage with a hand/head at the end. This little guy can apparently put away dishes in a dishwasher and looks like it can pretend to be a puppy (a uncanny valley metal puppy).
• A laundry folding robot from a few years ago can only fold rectangular towels. If you enjoy watching paint dry, though, this is a cool robot to watch as it uses two humanoid arms and stereo camera vision… to complete the one task it knows how to do.

After you’ve finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.

Filed Under: ai, algorithms, artificial intelligence, autonomous machines, laundroid, laundry, machine learning, pr2, spotmini
Companies: boston dynamics, willow garage