Do You Really Need a Robot?
Was the robot from the television series speaking about himself? Robots have been coming for decades, now suddenly they're here.
Science fiction movies, TV shows and books expose us, perhaps even prepare us for the inevitability of robots becoming commonplace in life. Robby The Robot from Forbidden Planet, R2D2 from Star Wars and Rosie from The Jetsons have all become friendly faces. We love robots - at least the fun, playful type.
IRobot is a company who makes the Roomba and Scooba cleaners. These little disc shaped gadgets glide on floors and scrub them clean or crawl on carpets, freeing rugs of pet hair and lint. They broadcast a zippy TV infomercial with polished actors sharing screen time with real "testimonials" alongside flashy demonstrations on how indispensable robots are in our busy lives. A perky host repeatedly says, "You need a robot!" Do I really?
Depending on how dirty the floors are, these gizmos supposedly do fine. Still, do we really need a costly robot, which does a household chore we can do better and even get some exercise? What's next? Rosie and Robby are still pretty far off. Until then, I guess we'll make do with mini bots. We may not need these I'm suggesting here, but they sound nifty!
DESKBOT
The ultimate desk organizer, this little guy zips around your desk, putting things in their place each and every time. Watch out though, if you're like me - only I know what's on my desk and where to look for it - after this bot cleans you may not be able to find a thing. Isn't that progress?
BOWLBOT
What's more gross than toilet scrubbing? This bot may get it done, but there's nothing cute or pleasant smelling about him. Wait now, if the bot scrubs the toilet, wouldn't it get dirty too? Wouldn't you have to clean him too? How about a ToiletBot-Cleaning Bot? Disposable models? Possibilities are endless!
BASEMENTBOT
A creeping basement dweller. This musty bot clears out the moist, dank places and even catalogs that vinyl LP collection collecting dust bunnies. Maybe it can even be programmed to do laundry down there. A bot to take clothes and put them in another machine to wash - what a brave new world it will be - we'll finally be free!
ATTICBOT
What's in your attic? Only your attic bot knows. Isn't the whole purpose of an attic a place where you dump stuff and don't worry about it being clean? You can keep it up there to creep out guests when you feel like playing a joke on your buds!
BODYBOT
BodyBot crawls on you. It slithers and slides on you. Like a leech or snail, it sucks up all the grime and dead skin cells. A Scooba for body parts and crevices! It will probably feel really good. Maybe too good. This one may best be sold in adult stores.
BOTCLEANERBOT
This robot cleans other robots. Wait! What about cleaning this bot? Don't worry it's self-cleaning.
If only everything else was.
Published by Will Stape
Will is an Emmy Award nominated screenwriter. He also writes extensively for magazines and the web. Will penned episodes for the TV shows, Star Trek: The Next Generation & Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.... View profile
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7 Comments
Post a CommentI think its a good piece of info :D WE NEED ROBOTS!
I am quite upset that it is 2007, and I am still doing my own housework. Growing up watching the Jetsons and whatnot, I assumed by the time I had my own home I would not have to lift a finger. Yet I am still scrubbing the toilet by hand. At least they invented those disposable brush thingies.
this is good info..makes you think...:)
Frankly, those little robot vacuums are going to trip someone someday. And that'll be the new, trendy lawsuit lawyers will be salivating over: "I was tripped by my robot mini-vac!" And then, of course, we have that problem of Asimov's "I, Robot" where these little devices deciding they've had enough of cleaning toilets and want to do away with us. I wouldn't want to be accosted by the one that cleans toilets, though. ;) But on a serious note (yes, there is one when talking about funny robots): Nanotechnology will probably be a reality within the coming decade. That means little microscopic robots living inside our bodies while supposedly curing us of health problems. If they decide to rebel--then at least the robots are stuck inside everybody's dead bodies. :/
My deskbot would need 4-wheel drive!
Fun stuff, but to answer the question - YES! Yes I need a robot. I'd take as many as I could get right now!
Cute.