At the moment they may exist only in our wildest dreams or in Hollywood science-fiction epics.
But humanoid robots that wash dishes, vacuum the carpets, cook and pick up dirty laundry could be available within a decade – and all for the price of a family car.
These machines – equipped with hands, arms and legs capable of doing basic household chores – are currently in development around the world.
Pulkit Agrawal, associate professor in the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said: ‘Silicon Valley companies are promising this year you can buy a robot, but my guess would be more like five to ten years, at least.
‘The technology is progressing, but it’s good to be realistic that it will take time to deploy.’
Recent work has focused on AI that will allow robots to adapt to different environments – so they would be able to navigate any home, no matter the layout.
These machines are likely to cost between £16,000 and £40,000, about the same price range as a new car.
The first versions will be able to do a small number of tasks before getting software upgrades from something akin to an App Store to broaden their domestic abilities, Professor Agrawal said.
Humanoid robots that wash dishes, vacuum the carpets, cook and pick up dirty laundry could be available within a decade – and all for the price of a family car (stock image)
These machines – equipped with hands, arms and legs capable of doing basic household chores – are currently in development around the world (stock image)
These machines are likely to cost between £16,000 and £40,000, about the same price range as a new car (stock image)
He added: ‘The dream would be a single robot that could do everything such as going around the home making sure your doors are locked, fetching newspapers, doing laundry and putting things in a dishwasher.’
A challenge with robot production is making them strong enough to hold objects, but gentle enough not to break them.
Current designs do not yet have this level of intelligence but experts believe advancements in AI could get them to this point.
Scientists at MIT have trained a robotic hand using new-era AI almost as nimble and as complex as a human’s to pick up objects.
It took months of work to perfect the coding – and the next step will be to train it to pick up a one dollar bill.
