11 Home Robots That You Don’t Need At All
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If robots are going to take away all our jobs, then we should also make sure to design some home robots to do all our domestic chores as well. In fact, there are quite a few applications already for domestic robotics in the home though we’d argue that half of them are pushing the definition of what might be traditionally referred to as a robot. This is because funding to robotics companies is at a fever pitch and everybody wants a piece of that action. Robots or not, at the very least you can walk away after reading this with some really great ideas for Christmas presents. Here are 11 home robots that you know you don’t need but that you’re probably going to buy anyway to impress your neighbors.
Home Robots That Mow Your Lawn
We love the smell of freshly cut grass just as much as the next guy but we can’t really be asked to drag the mower out of the garage, empty the clippings bag, pour petrol into the tank while spilling half of it on the grass, and then push the damn thing around the yard for hours in the hot sun. What we’d rather do instead is to buy a home robot lawn mower like the ones seen below:
These things can get ridiculously expensive but the cheapest we saw, the WORX Landroid (get it?) Robotic Lawn Mower, sells for just $999 on Amazon. You can pre-program a mowing schedule and it will cut up to 1/4 acre of grass. It even knows to go back to its charging station when it starts raining.
Home Robots that Vacuum
Probably the most recognized domestic robot around is the iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) series of robotic vacuums and robotic mops. Never having to vacuum again sounds kind of neat but wait until you see the steep price tags for some of these things. The latest and greatest Roomba from iRobot is going to set you back about $699 as seen below:
iRobot isn’t the only player in this space though as there are all kinds of companies offering home robot vacuums. If we were to buy one, the Anker RoboVac 10 robotic vacuum cleaner is a more economical choice at $199 (regular $499).
Home Robots that Clean Your Aquarium
You could always get one of those prehistoric fish that latches onto the glass of your aquarium naturally or you can get one of these bad boys and scare the isht out of your fish with it:
The MOAI Q “robot” seen above will not only clean your tank glass as often as you instruct it, but it will also take live pictures or stream live video of your aquarium and send it straight to your smartphone. This “connected aquarium” robot will set you back about $100.
Home Robots That Take Care of You
Remember our article not too long ago on a robotic Chinese Unicorn called UBTech Robotics? They make a robot that teaches you how to do yoga:
Not into yoga? What about a crab looking robot that runs around in some sort of weird artificial reality world trying to save humanity? Maybe you need to check out Mekamon:
Just take our money already. Not into gaming or yoga? Maybe you’re just bummed and need a friend. Allow us to present the world’s first social robot called Jibo:
The Wall Street Journal says that this is “tech that will change your life”. Those are pretty strong words don’t you think? This thing is actually going to change your life and it only costs $699. These are just some examples of “social home robots” with at least 16 different companies playing in this space with various types of offerings that merit an entire future article to discuss.
Update 7/17/2018: Jibo has reportedly laid off almost all of their employees last month and cut other costs in an effort to secure additional funding or pursue an exit, according to a spokesperson.
Educational Robots
In a niche similar to “social” robots, there are also at least 16 different startups tackling the educational robot niche. If you stop for a moment and think about it, these might actually be something we need. If robots are going to steal all our jobs, then we better know how to build and maintain them. Educational robots just might be the way for us to ensure our kids have the means to support us when we’re old and decrepit. Here’s a look at a cool educational robot on offer from Chinese home robot startup UBTech:
In addition to UBTech, there are at least 16 other companies in the educational robot space. We’re going to dedicate an entire article in the future to going through these and seeing what’s on offer for the future generations of robot maintenance managers.
Robot Luggage
If pulling your luggage around by the handle really gets on your nerves, then maybe you need a suitcase that is self-powered and follows you around like a faithful border collie. Even better, how about a robotic platform called NUA that can transform any object into a smart, autonomous robot like the one pictured below:
Hopefully, it alerts you if someone is tampering with it and stays in your line of sight so you can answer those security questions at the check-in desk truthfully, and with a clear conscious.
Home Robots for Pets
Now that you don’t have a job anymore you should have plenty of time to play with your cat. But what if your cat is demonstrating “negative behavioral habits” like unsocial behavior, laziness, destructiveness, or loud meowing (in other words, isht that 99.9% of cats do on a daily basis)? If your cat is exhibiting any of these symptoms then apparently it needs a robotic mouse to play with called Mousr seen below:
Apparently, Mousr can “see” where your cat is and react appropriately. It was actually funded via Kickstarter where the designers of this revolutionary robot claimed that “the primary challenge we face is writing the artificial intelligence algorithms”. First world problems.
Home Robots for the Kitchen
We’ve seen robots that make pizza and robots that make hamburgers, but these are all commercial ventures. What about robots for your home kitchen? Bear with us here because our definition of “robot” may have to be stretched a bit to accommodate some of the players in this space. Take as an example the “rotimatic” which makes fresh rotis and wraps on demand:
Don’t eat a lot of roti you say? How about the “Somabar” which is a robot bartender you can control with a smartphone? Ok, so it’s not actually a robot bartender but rather a machine that mixes drinks from 6 different containers and spritzes some bitters over the top as seen below:
Can we really get away with calling that thing a robot? Should we start calling our rice cookers rice robots? Is your washing machine a laundry robot? We need to draw the line somewhere, but given the funding that’s been going into robotics, we’re guessing every startup is going to try and ride these coattails. Besides, robots make for some really cool gifts. What we’re all waiting for is the humanoid robot takes the place of every single “robot” we described in this article and gives us a massage at the end of the day.
Conclusion
So there we’ve given you 11 examples of robots that you can get to make your home a more interesting place and to make you slightly less resentful about the fact that they are eventually going to steal your job. In order to claw back some of those future lost wages, you can read our article on 20 robot stocks you can invest in as a retail investor.
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Sooooo basically you don’t like any robotic products? Seems like you could have written this whole article in one sentence.
The kids educational tools are pretty cool and probably necessary. The automated lawnmower seems like a must have if you’re in the right tax bracket. Not overly sold on the roti robot or the robot bartender. Ditto to the expensive robot vacuums. As we said, we’re waiting for humanoids!