Robots put slacker's paradise in reach

By Edward C. Baig
USA Today

Picture a robot that sets the table, serves dinner, and clears everything away when the family is finished eating. Or a washing machine that cleans clothes, presses and folds them — and sews missing buttons.

These scenarios may seem to be straight out of "The Jetsons." But in labs around the globe, researchers are devising a slacker's paradise in which brainy machines tackle mundane chores, freeing us for more fulfilling activities.

Even George Jetson might get a kick out of what's here and coming. Take Pearl (short for Personal Robotic Assistants for the Elderly), a "nurse-bot" and the stepchild of researchers at Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh. She has cameras for eyes, a computer screen for a chest, and a tray or basket in which she can carry items to a person.

The 4-foot-5-inch tall machine already has been tested in nursing homes; she has ultimate designs on helping seniors in conventional homes.

Then there's Grace (Graduate Robot Attending Conference), Pearl's 6-foot tall Carnegie Mellon cousin.

Last July, Grace was able to register at an artificial-intelligence conference in Edmonton, Canada. Without human assistance, Grace, who sports an animated computer screen for a face, signed in at registration, schmoozed with attendees, Ênavigated to a conference room, made it to the speaker's podium and gave a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation about herself. Total time: about an hour.

Corporations also are siring robots. The future came early last year with the debut of the Roomba Intelligent FloorVac from iRobot. With little human supervision, this dynamo spirals around rooms scooping up debris, at a breakthrough $200 price.

Yet for all the advances in processing power, speech and facial recognition, the march to a Jetsonian home is fraught with obstacles. Robots need to be taught locomotion and perception, for which Carnegie Mellon's Hans Moravec has mapped out a future well into the new century:

• Between now and around 2015, Moravec envisions machines that will evolve beyond Roomba. A more advanced vacuum cleaner will schedule and predetermine cleaning routes and empty its own dust bags.
• By 2020, "universal robots" will arrive. They can prepare an egg, put out the dishes and clean the table. At this stage, robots execute applications with "reptilian inflexibility," unable to deal with the unexpected, Moravec says.
• By 2040, robots take on the abilities to like, dislike, model behaviors and mentally rehearse what they need to do. They can handle simple conversation.
• By 2050, Moravec says, robots will gain the brainpower of humans. Robots will be able to engage in abstract thought and reasoning.