I think nothing is more telling that tech industry have put their everything into creating AIs like ChatGPT and Bard but there has been no development in robots that actually makes our physical day to day lives easier.
I don’t know whether it’s because the tech industry is overwhelmingly men, but everyone HATES doing chores – so why haven’t we improved on any of it? I don’t know whether it’s right to think it’s because men typically don’t do household chores and so it doesn’t impact their lives but I am BEGGING for someone to improve the Roomba. You can’t tell me that humankind has invented something that can write a song and sing it in the voice of Drake but haven’t invented a better vacuum yet?? Forget ChatGPT, I DON’T WANT TO CLEAN NO MORE.
Any tech person reading this, I give you full permission to create these. I do not need to be on the patent, although I would welcome the machine somehow being named after me.
Here are some robots that I really wish existed instead of AI.
- Better vacuum
This is the vision – a vacuum that can suck up hair and accurately maps out the house so it can see where furniture and different types of ground (carpet, tile) are and adapt. You telling me an iphone can recognise a face and a vacuum can’t recognise a chair and a carpet? I’ve also heard that roombas have been known for spreading pet poo and vomit. Stick a 360 camera on a Roomba please. The next upgrade can be that it can recognise different types of stains and react accordingly (e.g.: has a carpet shampoo option). It’s doable, AI can recognise bad blueberries vs good blueberries in packing, why can’t we teach it to recognise the difference between poo and dirt?
- A washing machine that washes, dries and folds
I heard that as long as there is routine, AI can do it. Well, nothing is more routine than chores like laundry. It would be epic if this smart washing machine could also detect stains and have an inbuilt way to target them like the way they recognise blueberries, and also adjust the wash time/temperature to what the load actually needs. Then, it somehow economically dries the clothes that doesn’t take 3 hours and an extra $100 to your power bill each time, and it’s little robot brain recognises the different clothes and matching socks and fold them. Perhaps a solar powered washing machine??
- A smart oven
No, not an oven that plays music (also… is this what tech men think people who cook want) but an oven that actually manages what’s in the oven. It can tell if you’re baking cupcakes or roasting whole chicken, and adapt it’s settings to suit what’s in it with a smarty pants way to measure internal cooking temp and not burn the shit out of the top. It’s aim is to never over or undercook anything in it. Like it can do a little fanbake for 10 mins at 180 before it realising it needs to switch to a regular bake with no heat at the top at 160. I feel like this is a potential for a lot of maths and physics that I don’t want to think about.
- A self cleaning and organising fridge and freezer
I think the main complaints of the fridge and freezers are: always dirty, not rotating enough so things go rotten or not enough space.
Vision: a fridge that somehow can clean itself and rotates things internally according to which area of the fridge it’s best kept, and what needs to be eaten quickly. Also: perhaps adding voice commands to it so instead of you rummaging around for butter or frozen vegetables, you can ask the fridge and it can pick it out and give it to you.
- A better way to mop
Humankind has not invented ANYTHING to help with mopping apart from a squeezy sponge. Surely there is a smarter way to do this. An attachment to the magical vacuum perhaps.
I could go on forever with every chore that I hate, but my last one is:
- Pipe assistant
Not a robot that helps you smoke but unclogs your pipes. It stops food, hair and idk if we want it to get involved in the toilet but it would be great if someone in your house lives using “flushable” wipes. I’m just thinking that all the shit (no pun intended) it collects would be fucking disgusting. Perhaps this little pipe assistant can somehow link to a smart rubbish collection and can sanitise and put it in the bin for you.
The possibilities are endless and it would help sooo many people, including women, who are busy. Everyone always says that AI will affect jobs and so would take cleaners’ jobs, but computers have not really taken away the jobs of administrators.
I never thought I would have a tech hill to die on but this is it. Give me robots to help me with chores, RIGHT NOW!!
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