Finally! Robots That Will Do Your Housework

Remember Rosie the Robot, the sweet as molasses maid on "The Jetsons" that mothered the children, did the dishes and vacuumed the floor. Well, we're not quite mass producing Rosies yet -- shucks! -- but we're getting closer. Samsung is debuting the Furot II, a vacuum that seems to think like a person, at the IFA in Berlin this week.

Yes, the Roomba has been around awhile, but the Furot II is a bit more futuristic. Measuring a squat 10 cm high, the disc-like Furot II takes robot cleaning technology one step further -- It features a ground-breaking navigation system with a built-in camera and eight environmental sensors, which allows the little guy to figure out where it's vacuumed, where it still needs to clean, all the while avoiding furniture and stairs. In other words, it thinks for itself. So you can just turn it on and let it do its thing.

The vacuum's charge lasts about 90 minutes, and don't worry if it's low on batteries. It will find its way back to its charging station and juice back up before it finishes the job. Now we just have to get Samsung's tech geniuses to figure out how to get the Furot II to climb the stairs.

Scientists say that we're almost there. Numerous robotic experts are currently working on prototypes for robotic humans that will take over most of those dreaded chores because they'll walk, talk and CLEAN! like humans.



"They'll drive cars, do your laundry, carry weapons and do bad things as well," Jacky Baltes, a computer science professor at the University of Manitoba in Canada, told a reporter for The Globe and Mail. Jacky is developing a robot called Archie in conjunction with the Vienna University of Technology in Austria. "This revolution is going to be much bigger than the computer revolution."

But these robots are going to have to get a lot less frightening looking first. I cringed when I saw Archie -- I wouldn't want him wandering around my house. He's hideous! Note to scientists: Rosie the Robot is preferred.

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