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Robots to perform menial tasks by 2025, write for Engadget quite a bit sooner
While robots have certainly been around for a spell doing things like sweeping your floors and conducting symphonies, up till now they haven't been "human enough" to replace actual people. According to a new report from the National Intelligence Council, however, they should be up to the task by 2025. The report goes as far as saying that an influx of robo-workers could even "disrupt unskilled labor markets" and occupy jobs currently performed by migrant workers and hapless high school students. Additionally, the report asserts that new technologies could be used to augment human abilities as well, taking on jobs such as caring for the elderly. Unfortunately, the report had no word on the progress of synthetic saliva glands for the inevitable robo-waiter, so no need to fret -- yet.[Image courtesy of benefisho]
CAFERO robot waiter serves coffee, does nothing for your loneliness
If Yujin Robot has its way, cafes the world over will someday replace their waitstaff with robots like CAFERO (shown above at Robot World 2008 in Seoul). Details are scarce, but apparently the automaton takes orders on a touch screen and fills them with the help of a human operator (though it's only a matter of time before the carbon-based barista is obsolete). Robot waitresses don't flirt and they don't ask for tips: does CAFERO represent food service utopia or a chilling vision of the future? Only time will tell.[Via Hallyu Tech]
