Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"We [science fiction writers] always wanted to believe in "private sector" space -- hucksters make better characters than a government does."
- Larry Niven
 |
| Hired Girl Robot | ||
| The amazing floor-cleaning robot! |
| What Hired Girl would do (the first model, not the semi-intelligent robot I developed it into) was to clean floors . . . any floor, all day long and without supervision. And there never was a floor that didn't need cleaning. It swept, or mopped, or vacuum-cleaned, or polished, consulting tapes in its idiot memory to decide which. Anything larger than a BB shot it picked up and placed in a tray on its upper surface, for someone brighter to decide whether to keep or throw away. It went quietly looking for dirt all day long, in search curves that could miss nothing, passing over clean floors in its endless search for dirty floors. It would get out of a room with people in it, like a well-trained maid, unless its mistress caught up with it and flipped a switch to tell the poor thing it was welcome. Around dinnertime it would go to its stall and soak up a quick charge-this was before we installed the everlasting power pack. There was not too much difference between Hired Girl, Mark One, and a vacuum cleaner. But the difference-that it would clean without supervision-was enough; it sold." |
| From The Door Into Summer,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by Unknown in 1956 Additional resources -
|
This bot has an amazing set of specs:
(Thanks to an anonymous reader for reminding me about this one.)
Heinlein identifies autonomous operation as the most important feature.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 2 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Door Into Summer
More Ideas
and Technology by Robert Heinlein
Tech news articles related to The Door Into Summer
Tech news articles related to works by Robert Heinlein
Hired Girl Robot-related
news articles:
- iRobot Scooba And Heinlein's 'Hired Girl' Robot
- RIDC-01 Robot Maid Will Not Replace Rosie In Our Hearts
- Romi Robot Orwellian Vacuum Cleaner
- Tondon Robot Autonomous Floor Cleaner
- ReadyBot Robot Picks Up Like Heinlein 'Hired Girl'
- SmartPal V Robot Picks Up, Vacuums Rec Room
- iRobot's Five Million Home Robots
- Mahru-Z Robot Maid
- Dyson 360 Eye Robot Vacuum Cleaner
- PLEN2 DIY Robot Cleaner Steals Your Heart
- Aeolus Robot Brings Jetson's Rosie Closer
| Robots Help People Get Dressed, As Predicted In 1931 |
| Robot Snake Flies, Fights Fires |
| IPAL Chinese Robot Babysitter |
| DIY Autonomous Robot Detects Trash |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
'Merton... placed the electrodes of the sleep-inducer on his forehead.'
'... we can descend and live down there at one of those year-round aquatic resorts.'
'...she would have to be coaxed by another series of pats into a circular orbit.'
'The sleek, tapered space shuttle lay immobile upon the private landing field...'
Yes, people of the future, robots will dress you.
