Google's Eric Schmidt Says People Want Dish-Washing Robots To Clean Up the Kitchen More Than Any Other Kind (cnbc.com)

There is nothing that people want robots to be able to do more than to wash the dishes, according to Alphabet Chairman and former CEO Eric Schmidt. From a report: "When you ask a person what they would like a robot to do, the thing that they would like more than anyone else, is clean up the dishes in the kitchen," the billionaire Google executive says speaking at the Halifax International Security Forum. "That is literally the number one request. And I say this having done this exhaustively," he says. Though you may dream of a robot dishwasher, don't hold your breath for it to happen in the immediate future. "That turns out to be an extraordinarily difficult problem," says Schmidt.

Comments

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[fyngyrz]

oogle's Eric Schmidt Says People Want Dish-Washing Robots To Clean Up the Kitchen More Than Any Other Kind

Well, that they admit to, anyway. Sex robots will be #1 on people's "want lists", count on it. Once they're any good.

Re:Wait

[reboot246]

What's the world coming to when people are just too fucking lazy to put the dishes in the dishwasher and turn it on?

Is Eric Schmidt still washing his dishes by hand?!?

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[Highdude702]

why isnt there an "eww" mod...

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[ShanghaiBill]

My only reservation is that I had the impression that the Real Dolls were dolls rather than robots - not particularly interactive?

This is correct. They are not very interactive. The "real thing" is definitely better (but also more time consuming, with all the foreplay before and snuggling afterwards).

They are putting a lot of resources into R&D, so the technology should improve rapidly.

They are also not cheap. My wife spent about $7k on mine. The "intimate" parts are removable, which makes them easy to clean, but also easy to swap out. So you could share a sexbot with friends and each have private "privates".

Given the market potential, and the huge environmental benefit of reduced population growth, it amazes me that we aren't doing more to develop good sexbots. In the long run, good affordable sexbots could do more to reduce global warming than solar panels on ten million rooftops.

It takes only 5 minutes to load a dishwasher

[pikine]

I don't know what to make of this. Either people are too lazy to even load a dishwasher and just litter the plates all over their house, or maybe there really is not much robots can do for us because our basic needs are already fulfilled by simple household appliances.

Re:It takes only 5 minutes to load a dishwasher

[frank_adrian314159]

Except that current dishwasher technology is not particularly well suited to all dishes (crystal, china, etc.), nor do they do a good job of getting heavily-soiled pots and pans, or dishes with dried on food clean without pre-washing. Finally, dishwashers are a finite size and will not hold all the dishes from many meals. A well-engineered dishwashing robot will have none of these issues.

Re:It takes only 5 minutes to load a dishwasher

[Zarhan]

It's not the dishes - as you say, dishwasher is for that and loading is quick.

How about cleaning up cooking utensils, pots, pans and so on (lots of these, e.g. cast-iron stuff, is not machine-washable). Cleaning up the oven, grill, leftovers, flour that has spread across all level surfaces, bits of dough. Cleaning up after your kids messes up the table by spraying her meal all over the table, or when you yourself accidentally knock that drink to the floor. Cleaning up the fridge after the cheese you've forgotten has decided to start evolving into a new life form. Collecting all the garbage (containers of food ingredients and/or take-out).

Dishes are a solved problem. Cleaning up the other areas of kitchen: Not so much, apart from paying for a housekeeper.

Tough, but if you figure that out, you've got it m

[fox171171]

We already have dishwashers for the washing part, the hard part is getting the robot to collect everything, not break or spill anything, clean the big chunks off, load the dishwasher and run it. Then inspect, unload and put it away.

The good news is if you can build a robot to do that, it should be a no-brainer to get it to do laundry and garbage duties as well. Probably get it to cook too.

Re:Harder than self-driving cars, really?

[doctorvo]

Simple solution: wrinkle free clothes.

I think they just lack imagination

[rsilvergun]

you'd be amazed how little imagination most folks have. It's actually a fairly serious social problem. After the last round of mass shootings there were interviews folks there. Several of who changed their opinion of gun control based solely on personal experiences. I've had friends who fell on hard times after the economic crash of 2008 who's folks were doing pretty good actually and were no help because they just couldn't comprehend the idea of anyone not just being able to work themselves out of any jam because they've always managed to.

Basically there's a lot of folk who can't grok something they didn't personally experience. If you go back and read the book that word grok came from being able to reach those people was a major part of it.

Um, got one already, it has a Bosch brand on it.

[Halster]

I just checked under the bench, my "Dishwashing Robot" in a box is still there...

SRSLY, give me a robot that can vacuum and mop floors properly (ie. not like a roomba), or pick up kids toys, or wash dry and iron clothes. That's higher on my list than a robot that does what my dishwasher already does perfectly well.

L8r.