TECHNOLOGY FOR CHANGE

The Twenty-First Century Maid?

Dave Greenfield | Date: 02-25-10 | Comments

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.