Robots that love work

Forget sci-fi: Mechanical servants of the future won't need a human form to function.

Robots. Science fiction first envisioned them. Hollywood has largely shaped our view of them as either helpful sidekicks (think R2-D2), killer machines (the Terminator) or sentimental foils (metal-clad Robin Williams in "Bicentennial Man"). But so far, reality has failed to give us the humanoid servant our imaginations and box-office hits have concocted.

Chances are, over the next few years that will change. Robots will infiltrate your life. But rather than scary humanoid golems, these helpful machines will remove drudgery from our lives, one task at a time.

Robotic technology has been around for decades. In fact, robotics revolutionized 20th-century industry. Robots probably welded and partly assembled the car you drive: GM installed the first industrial robot back in 1962. Today, robots are used to build computers, drop cereal into boxes, and stack cartons of Pampers, Tide and Crisco to be shipped to stores. We're even using them to explore other worlds. Remember the Martian Rover? It was a robot.

Soon robots will do even more. They'll perform open-heart surgery, ensure that our food truly remains untouched by human hands and safely explode bombs from a distance.

But it's at home -- in our living rooms, kitchens and back yards -- where we'll really notice them. Just don't expect a clanking Jeeves-style mechanical butler anytime soon. Instead, they'll be less visible, one of many labor-saving devices whisking away dirt and tedious chores.

Driving this technology are our evolving lifestyles. In the old agrarian days, families would have lots of kids, then put 'em right to work on the farm. As household sizes have shrunk and responsibilities shifted away from the farm (or home), enterprising manufacturers have scrambled to come up with new labor-saving devices for mundane tasks. Soon, we'll have a family of mechanical servants, each programmed to do just one thing, and do it well.

Take a look around your house. Would it pass your mother's white-glove test? Probably not. In fact, a recent study on cleaning habits found that about one-quarter of Americans complain they're just too busy to do any cleaning at all, much less scrub floors and wash windows. Before the iron, vacuum cleaner and dryer, most women's days were occupied by washing, cleaning and cooking. Now, housekeeping must accommodate a job, the PTA, shuttling kids from play dates to practice, and lots of other fun tasks. Vacuuming may be easier than sweeping or beating a rug with a stick, but it's still a pain. My sub-par vacuuming skills led my wife to ban me from the upright years ago. (I swear that wasn't my plan, sweetheart!)

But just as the dishwasher and its superior soap made scrubbing plates obsolete and the dryer replaced the clothesline, now the Roomba -- a Frisbee-shaped robot with a name that suggests a peppy dance -- promises to make vacuuming a thing of the past. This tiny robot (cost: under $200) can vacuum a standard-size living room in about 15 minutes. Just program in your room size and let the Roomba loose. Powered by sensor technology designed originally for military robots to clear minefields, the robotic vacuum meanders in widening spirals, turning when it meets an obstacle, such as furniture, a wall or even your foot.

The Roomba is a little odd; cats, kids and even old-fashioned adults who are more comfortable in control of the broom, so to speak, will need time to adjust. But expect more cheap robots like this to fill our closets within a few years. Who wouldn't spend a little cash to be liberated from such necessities as vacuuming?

What's your most hated chore? Want a robot for yardwork? You can already get a Robomower for about $500. I'd like a robot gardener that precisely waters all my plants and rakes up dead leaves, too. What about a small window-washing robot that constantly circles your house, squeegeeing the glass in areas you can reach only by hanging outside or climbing a ladder? Or a robot that cleans and polishes your car in the garage overnight?

None of these is far-fetched; the biggest problem is mass-producing them cheaply and helping them deal with uncertainties that are better handled by human logic and understanding. Where does my lawn end, for example? Should the robot prune an overhanging branch from my neighbor's tree? (A big no-no!) And what would keep the robot from pruning the entire tree? But those problems will be solved soon.

What happens when we no longer have to wash the car, rake leaves, vacuum or cut the grass? More leisure time? More family time? Or just more work? As for me, I plan on watching more football -- at least until they invent a robot to do that for me, too.

Jim Louderback is editor in chief for Internet at Ziff Davis Media, publisher of "PC Magazine", "EWeek" and ExtremeTech.com.