Robots at work, in day and night
Technology advances so quickly! Our children recently got us a robot vacuum cleaner, and I named him “Bug,” because it reminded me of a living being. You might think it sounds crazy—how could a vacuum cleaner behave like an animal? But that’s just how it seemed to me! I started reading about robots online—laughing at silly stories, learning about robots and technological advancements. Here’s a little bit about what I learned.
In Japan, they invented a robot that catches thieves. In Japan, 100 thieves were caught in 5 minutes. In America, 200 thieves were caught in 5 minutes. In Russia, in 5 minutes someone stole a robot.
Another anecdote: A robot vacuum cleaner follows an old lady.
“Am I getting old? I must be… What’s going on? The vacuum cleaner keeps following me around and picking up things behind me…”
One day, we decided to put our bug to use. She moved all throughout the rooms, making a little noise as she climbed under the sofas and beds and diligently worked. The vacuum kept puffing and crawling as it did its job. Suddenly, the doorbell rang. It was a worker who had come to take measurements of the bathroom to complete a repair. We went into the bathroom and began explaining the repair to him.
All of a sudden, the bug turned around and quickly zoomed over to us, pushing away my husband, me, and the worker! We tried to get it out of the room, but it kept coming back until we pressed the button on its remote. How stubborn!
The writer Isaac Asimov wrote a famous story called “The Bicentennial Man.” This is a book about a robot who wanted to become human—and there’s even a movie with the same name. It’s all about what he did, how he worked towards his goal, and how its owners reacted.
So, how did we react to our “bug’s” behavior? We kicked her out and put her in her place! After all, she was behaving like a bored puppy wanting to meet a guest.
Here’s a story about how even a robot understands its owners:
I don’t like cleaning, so I bought a robot vacuum cleaner. It arrived at my house and I turned it on. The first thing he did was spin in a circle around the apartment and drive away.
Some people are so used to robots (or family members) doing all of their work that they ask funny questions!
- “Look, dear! I got you a household robot. He’ll be your friend, cleaner, and kitchen helper. Now you won’t scold me whenever things don’t get done. All you need to do is press this button and set it to mop, iron, cook, wash the dishes and do the cleaning.”
- “Sorry, dear, but who will press the button to install the program?”
What can you do?