Do you have a pet, or kid, who’s scared to death of your Roomba? Well, there’s bad news: The horror has only begun to unfold.
Chinese researchers have developed a prototype robot that can “see” and then pick up objects, like toys, bottles, and stuffed animals. It can also respond to voice commands.
This probably sounds like great news to you. In the future, a robot could tidy up your house BEFORE a Roomba vacuums it. Even better: No more stepping on random Legos.
The bad news for the pets and children in your home is: This thing looks even more terrifying than a Roomba. It isn’t a humanoid robot, yet, but it’s bulky, drives around on wheels, and has cameras, displays, robotic arms, lifting platforms, and “pneumatic flexible grippers.”
It sounds like this is a promising step, but the robot is still in the prototype phase and hasn’t been tested in real homes, which have far more unpredictable conditions.
Also: For now, it can only pick up items that weigh around a HALF A POUND. And it’s unclear if this could be scalable, where it could be mass produced in a way that would make it affordable enough to be viable.
(Here’s an idea of what the robot looks like. So it’s not quite Rosey from “The Jetsons”, but it’s also not THAT far off.)
