The Twenty-First Century Maid?
Dave Greenfield | Date: 02-25-10 | Comments: 0
- A new robot can finally fulfill every man’s fantasy--heating up food in the microwave--and a whole lot more.
South Korea
has a goal: a robot in every home by 2020. South Korean researchers, at the
forefront of robotic technology, came one step closer to making sci-fi a
reality with the development of Mahru-Z,
a robotic maid who can handle cleaning tasks, putting laundry in the washer
and starting a cycle, and heating food in a microwave. While it’s not time to
stop picking up after ourselves quite yet, Mahru-Z offers a fascinating glimpse
into what could be the future for many people.
Researchers at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology
(KIST) spend about $3.5 million USD (or 4 billion won) per year on research and
development of robots. While Mahru-Z (who bears a striking resemblance to
Rosie, the Jetson’s robot maid) is not the first maid robot, it is the most
sophisticated because it can mimic human movement more closely. Among the
features of this cleaning machine:
- A
1.3-meter, 55-kilogram humanlike body with rotating head, arms and legs.
- Moving
elbows and hands with six fingers for grasping objects, like laundry, and
pushing buttons.
- 3D
vision to recognize tasks that need to be completed.
- Visual
sensors. Mahru-Z can move through rooms on its own, controlled remotely
via computer server.
- The
ability to work in conjunction with Mahru-M, another robotic maid.
Besides the domestic applications, KIST researchers see big
things in Mahru-Z’s future. The robot could be used in situations that are
deemed to unsafe or dangerous for humans.
The head of KIST’s cognitive robot center, You Bum-jae, says:
“The network capabilities of the robot makes it capable to do jobs in areas
that are dangerous, contaminated or previously unvisited, as every movement can
be remote controlled. In the future, these types of robots could be used for
doing things in space, such as operating machinery on the moon, while its
controller stays back on Earth.”
One criticism that has appeared thus far: You may not want
to pay this maid by the hour. The rate at which it completes tasks has been
compared to “the speed of a dead horse.” But KIST researchers are confident
that, as development continues, Mahru-Z will pick up speed and be a viable
domestic robot in the not-so-distant future.
