Beer-fetching robot promises to make your significant other obsolete

The thing about the future is this: we'll still have to do menial things like answer the door, or take out the trash, or get up off our couches to get our own brews after a long, hard day at the office... unless we're smart enough to invent robots to do such menial things, that is. Well, Willow Garage has spent some time building a "Beer Me" application for its PR2 robot which gets at least one of these tasks under its belt. They added a four-holed foam block placed behind the robot's navigation laser so that it can safely carry four bottles across the terrain, and equipped their refrigerator with a tilted "self-stocking" shelf. Check out its operation in the video below.

[electricsheepdog Posted Jul 8th 2010 5:00PM]

@KGB Clearly you've never heard of the "Ballmer Peak" http://xkcd.com/323/

[KGB Posted Jul 8th 2010 5:11PM]

@electricsheepdog

In other words, i'll be productive for 1 hour out of 8 hours of my work day. Thats way too much work per day.

[KGB Posted Jul 8th 2010 4:46PM]

After watching entire video, i realized that it would be cheaper and faster to get a beer by hiring an illegal immigrant.and pay him minimum wage to get the beer for you.

[glennS Posted Jul 8th 2010 5:02PM]

Well, to be fair, it would need to perform at least ONE other function to make her completely obsolete....and I am so glad the wife doesn't read Engadget, or I would be in a load of trouble for this comment, and that one other function wouldn't be happening for LONG time.

[Grubasaurus Rex Posted Jul 8th 2010 5:08PM]

Haha, that is so cool.

[System Posted Jul 8th 2010 5:40PM]

Need to plug them in. In case they try to rise up against us.

[electricsheepdog Posted Jul 8th 2010 8:19PM]

@System They can plug themselves in, actually: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWcepdggXsU

[TAZ Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:08PM]

The wife doesn't fetch me Beer, Coffee, Wine or any other beverages. She does perform other services which I'm pretty certain are not offered by a robot, and I hope I never get offered by a robot for that matter.

[xtasi Posted Jul 8th 2010 7:09PM]

Between this, roomba and the "roomba" grass cutter, I don't need kids anymore.

[fuisti Posted Jul 8th 2010 8:52PM]

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/my-girlfriends-hot-but-she-has-a-builtin-cooling-system-20100110-m0tk.html

Now thats hot.

[willwillywilson Posted Jul 8th 2010 9:21PM]

Yes but if you drink to much and call the robot a whore and try to give it a black eye or burn it with your cigarette will it cry?

[KirinIchiban Posted Jul 9th 2010 3:24AM]

Does ANYBODY have a significan other that fetches beer these days??