John Gruber on the news that Amazon is acquiring (well, trying to) iRobot, the makers of the Roomba robot vacuum:
It’s very clear to me that we’re going to get helpful household robots soon, and we’ll wonder how we ever lived without them. Something like a cross between C-3PO and R2-D2 — speaks to you like Threepio, but rolls around and serves more practical purposes like Artoo. Amazon, clearly, sees the same inevitable product category I do. “Roomba, I need you to clean up a mess in the kitchen. And bring me a fizzy water when you’re done. Thanks.”
I like the framing of household robots as a cross between C-3PO and R2-D2. Right now, devices with Alexa are C-3PO (mostly smart, mildly annoying, quick with facts) while Roomba is more like R2-D2 (mostly mute, diligent, hard-working, and autonomous). A few products have tried to merge the two — notably, Amazon’s Astro robot — but none have nailed it. Simply putting Alexa on a Roomba would instantly move us closer to this world.
A lot of people, of course, will be freaked out by this. Or at least will say that they are. A LISTENING DEVICE ROAMING AROUND MY HOME?! But it’s inevitable. I also appreciate Gruber’s point on this:
(I like saying thanks to my AI assistants. My wife thinks I’m nuts. But I worry we, collectively, are going to be dreadfully rude to them by the time they’re essential elements of our daily lives.)
Kids are currently growing up with Alexa and getting used to barking orders at it. As wild as it may sound, I do wonder if it’s not going to lead to naturally “ruder” culture as we just stop saying “please” and “thank you” less often because so many requests are going to be made at robots where such niceties are not only not required, they’re viewed as taking up more time for a task.
