The problem wasn't technological. It was that nobody had any use for a robot. We never figured out what people would want the robot for. I think that's still the problem.
Phil, I think the real issue is that no one wants an expensive, stupid, awkward robot... A broadly functional household robot would be very useful, even if it lacked intelligence beyond the human-moron level... For instance, right now, I would like a robot to go into my daughter's room and clean up the rabbit turds that are in the rabbit playpen in there. I would rather not do it. But, a Roomba can't handle this task because it can't climb over the walls of the playpen, nor understand my instructions, nor pick up the turds but leave the legos on the floor alone... Heck, a robot to let the dogs in and out of the house would be nice too... being "doggie doorman" gets tiring. Of course, this could be solved more easily by installing a doggie door ;-) How about a robot to bring me the cordless phone when it rings, but has been left somewhere else in the house ... ? ;-) How about one to put the dishes in the dishwasher and unload them ... and re-insert the ones that didn't get totally cleaned? The dishwasher is a good invention but it only does half the job.... The problem **is** technological: it's that current robots really suck ... not that non-sucky robots would be useles... -- Ben ----- This list is sponsored by AGIRI: http://www.agiri.org/email To unsubscribe or change your options, please go to: http://v2.listbox.com/member/?list_id=303
