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The rise of the robotic servant
Chores are the bane of domesticity. Dull and repetitive tasks have already been farmed out to robots in industrial workplaces, so why not our homes, too? On a small scale, they've already arrived, just not quite in the way film and TV promised. For this week's Rewind, we take a look at some of the highlights in the history of robotic servants.
Royal Caribbean's cruise of the future looks a lot like the present
When I think of the ultimate future cruise ship, many things come to mind. Most of them borrowed from Star Trek, I'll admit. Holodecks, food replicators, staff in tight-fitting onesies -- that kinda thing. I'd also be willing to throw in some robot barmen, virtual balconies, apps and RFID trickery. This is 2014, not the 24th century after all. Lucky, then, that Royal Caribbean's self-proclaimed "smartship" -- Quantum of the Seas -- has all of the above (up to the barmen bit, not the replicators or holodeck). There was no boldly going anywhere just a short jaunt down the English Channel, but I took the chance anyway, to see what the future of cruising might look like.
