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Service Robots in Service by 2010
Igor Birman writes "Reuters reports that Toyota aims to sell service robots by 2010. Meanwhile, the most advanced consumer robot produced in the US appears to be the iRobot Roomba, now available in pink.
More information is available at
Robotics Trends and
NewsTarget.com"
Japan's top automaker sees a declining birthrate and aging population leading to growing demand for robots that can help in tasks such as child care and nursing care
What? I don't know where these companies determine the demands that people have. People have been trying to make machines that could automatically mow a lawn for over 50 years now. I would think there would be a really high demand for robots that could do lawn care, take out the trash and clean the house. At least those tasks I could trust a robot to do properly and shouldn't be all that difficult if they are also "really" capable of caring for a child. Personally, it would be a long time before I would trust robotic technology and AI to care for a human being's health and safety.
Here's the video feed of the robots in motion http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/special/robot/
Free Flat Screen
We already have a culture that puts the elderly away into nursing homes or retirement communities rather than having families take care of them. This is in sharp contrast to the way elderly members of most cultures have traditionally been cared for. A few generations back in the U.S., most elderly lived with their families as they aged.
Now we're in the process of developing technology so that we won't even need to use precious human labor in taking care of the aged among us. This sounds like a sad development to me.