Study Says 4.1M Domestic Robots In Use By 2007

jangobongo writes "The U.N.'s annual World Robotics Survey for 2004 predicts that there will be a seven-fold surge in household robots by the end of 2007. Robots that mow your lawn, vacuum, wash windows, clean swimming pools, as well as entertainment robots such as Aibo are all vying to take a place in our homes and ease our workload. The study says that Japan is the leader in consumer robotics, with Europe and North America quickly catching up."

Let me be the first to say...

[metlin]

I, for one, welcome our new lawn mowing window washing swim suit wearing robotic over...err...dogs?

Time to get

[beacher]

ROBOT INSURANCE [robotcombat.com]!!!!! Because robots have steel claws and they eat old peoples medicine for food!

by 2007

[Anonymous Coward]

By 2007 we'll probably all have a personal hovercraft.

The U.N.'s annual World Robotics Survey for 2004?

[Anonymous Coward]

They are going to have to change their charter!

"WE THE PEOPLES..."

to

"WE THE PEOPLES AND ROBOTSES..."

see

http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/index.html

what will the kiddies do then?

[Anonymous Coward]

Robots that mow your lawn, vacuum, wash windows, clean swimming pools

I thought this was why people had kids.

Robot modding...

[jmcmunn]

When we all have house cleaning robots, or window washing robots how long do you think it will be before people mod them to be other things. Picture this....

I just overclocked my WindowWasher PCXL and modded it to become the most powerful BattleBot ever!! Wax on, Wax off...

it has to be said...

[Lumpy]

this [albinoblacksheep.com] is our future?

Satanic Robot Chicks Again

[zenmojodaddy]

I may have mentioned this before, but Anton LaVey suggested that the next big industry will be the production of robotic companions, because they can be programmed to provide the exact type of stimulation or gratification that the user requires, thus avoiding the need to interact with real people who are imperfect at best.

Natch, the Slashdot model will look like Princess Leia, know how to handle a soldering iron, and talk about how great Linux is. Or something...

There may also be an easily-repairable Wesley Crusher model for those 'GNYAR!' moments. Or Jar Jar Binks. Or that ultimate nightmare, Jar Jar Crusher.

Re:The future...comming soon

[Uninvited Guest]

Ignore parent post; he's a robot, and cannot be trusted...

Okay, he's not really a robot, he's just a guy in my office...

but, I still don't trust. He kinda... you know... talks like a robot.

four million robotses...

[gomel]

... and none have the three Laws of Robotniks programmed in.
I smell trouble.

First off....

[Anonymous Coward]

Sam Waterston is awesome.

Secondly, imagine, if you will, a world where Real Dolls meet Abio. Ruff ruff.

Re:Another type of robots

[MikeDX]

I'm not. I for one welcome our Artificially inteligent Latex overl. erm... ladies?

Re:Satanic Robot Chicks Again

[Anita Coney]

Put a robot in one of these [realdoll.com] and I'd consider buying one! Or two!

Re:what will the kiddies do then?

[catherder_finleyd]

The kids will still have jobs programming the robots:

"Hey Son, How do you program this thing? It's still flashing 12:00!"

Re:What is a robot?

[Hittite Creosote]

When the machine that washes the dirty dishes comes and collects them from the table first, then you can call it a robot.

Robots don't cry.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not even at "Steel Magnolias"

Re:what will the kiddies do then?

[zymurgy_cat]

I thought this was why people had kids.

True, but your RoboMower won't drink your beer, invite its pierced, strangely dressed friends over to your house, listen to loud scary music, spend extended periods of time in the bathroom doing who-knows-what, ask to borrow the car and then not put any gas in it, or put you in a home when you get old and senile.

'Seven-fold surge'

[welshwaterloo]

Seven-fold surge, eh?

I'm too lazy to do the math - can someone tell me what 7 x 0 is..?

Re:Time to get

[Anonymous Coward]

Excuse me, you are standing on my dick.

Re:what will the kiddies do then?

[lachlan76]

True, but your RoboMower won't drink your beer, invite its pierced, strangely dressed friends over to your house, listen to loud scary music, spend extended periods of time in the bathroom doing who-knows-what, ask to borrow the car and then not put any gas in it, or put you in a home when you get old and senile.

Don't worry, it'll be out in the next release.

Re:Yup

[fleener]

Don't blame us if you haven't bought your own flying car yet. Cheap bastard.

Re:What is a robot?

[yummy1991]

Mom's a bot?

Re:maybe it's just me

[DLR]

Buy a goat?

Re:Let me be the first to say...

[stecoop]

Nothing times a billion is still nothing

This is true for regular algebra but in calculus there are formulas where even though the regular math proves 0*n = 0; studying points as they approach really close to the numbers will show that sometimes will not be zero. Like sin(x)/x as x -> 0 should be Undefined right? Well as you study the limits on both sides of 0 to infinite "closeness" you'll see that the formula actually equates to 1. Therefore if you had sin(x)/x as x -> 0 * billion it would equal a billion. Weird huh?