The telegraph

Technology cuts chores to just two hours a week

The Roomba 780 is a robotic vacuum cleaner that's less than 10cm tall

By Matt Warman, Consumer Technology Editor

New research claims that Britons used to spend 63 hours a week on housework in 1953, but improvements in washing machines, dishwashers, dryers and vacuum cleaners mean that figure has declined sharply over the last three decades. Today, many people expect chores to be a thing of the past by 2033.

In a survey commissioned by electronics giant LG, respondents said they expected the technology of the near future to include a fridge that automatically placed online shopping orders, a washing machine that could be activated using a mobile phone, vacuum cleaners with a mind of their own and an oven that detects if food is burnt and turns itself off. Their wish list for new gadgets included improved fridges to keep food fresh, an ironing machine and, for one in four, a robotic butler. Young people aged 16-24-year-olds were the most optimistic for the future, and were the most likely to embrace technology that incorporated machine-to-machine communication, which could see homes forming intelligent networks to automate basic tasks such as laundry and ironing. Dawn Stockell, from LG, claimed that Todays discerning consumers expect constant advances in technology, and said the company was already producing some futuristic gadgets. She pointed to the South Korean companys new robotic vacuum cleaner, which uses cameras and sensors to navigate around rooms, and to a refrigerator that suggests recipes based on its contents and knows when items are going out of date. While new research suggests that men and women are now sharing chores more evenly, a study from Oxford University claims that it will take until 2050 before there is true domestic equality, however mothers, the researchers warned, will continue to shoulder the burden of childcare and housework for the next four decades, largely because routine chores such as cleaning and cooking are still regarded as womens work.

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The New Zealand herald

RoboMop to take care of future chores

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Mr Corbett-Davies has been labelled one of the top scholars of the last 10 years. Forget the vacuuming and washing dishes - a New Zealand student hopes to revolutionize the future of housework by inventing a robotic housekeeper. During his PhD studies at Stanford University in California, University of Canterbury mechatronics graduate and Fulbright scholar Sam Corbett-Davies hopes to help develop a robot capable of cleaning a house while the residents sleep. From September, the 22-year-old from Hawkes Bay will study the complex computer systems necessary for such an invention from the heart of Silicon Valley, surrounded by Google, Facebook and Apple. "The basic issue stopping robots from achieving success beyond factory environments is the complexity and unpredictability of human spaces," he said. "A robot attempting to clean a kitchen will face a number of challenges that seem trivial to humans. For example, kitchens can be arranged in any number of ways, but I'm sure you could walk into any kitchen and find the cutlery almost immediately. "A robotic maid would need to be able to operate a fridge and dishwasher, which is a monumental task. Even finding the appliance would be a challenge because of the vast array of appearances it could take, due to the brand of the device, the fact that the door may be open or closed, and, if open, the possibility of the appliance being full of dishes or food or not. "The robot would then need to know how to operate every make and model of appliance, all of which will behave slightly differently." Mr Corbett-Davies has been labelled one of the top scholars of the last 10 years in the mechatronics course, said his supervisor Professor Geoff Chase. While studying, he helped develop a large, interactive virtual spider to help people overcome arachnophobia. "In primary school I was playing with a lot of Lego and K'Nex and I really enjoyed that sort of stuff and as I went through school I realised I had to do all sorts of education if I wanted to get into robotics," said Mr Corbett-Davies.

His study at Stanford will take five years and he hoped for the chance to work on exciting and ground breaking projects, he said. Mr Corbett-Davies was one of three members in his class of 21 students to receive Fulbright scholarships, and he has also been granted a JR Templin Trust Scholarship. By Morgan Tait

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FIRST ACTIVITY

SANDRA MILENA BENITEZ VARGAS

UNIVERSITY DEL ATLANTICO

EDUCATION FACULTY FOREING LANGUAGES BARRANQUILLA 2013

THE CHORES TECHNOLOGY AT THE FUTURE

Question: How do you think will be the chores technology in 8 or 10 years? The technology is one of the things that are always changing; it cannot stop because it is the future. During all these year the engineers, scientists and the people interesting in this topic have been constantly working to improve the devices in ways of improve also our life. The technology is a massive topic, for that I am going to focus my attention on one of the most impotents parts of our lives the chores. This subject cannot be forget, because the major part of our life, we spend it at home. Now days we can see all the improvements on this area, for example in South Korea the people already have a robot for the housework, but it is not for all the activities and not everybody has it. The machine is a robotic vacuum cleaner, which uses cameras and sensors to navigate around rooms, and to a refrigerator that suggests recipes based on its contents and knows when items are going out of date. They expect that maybe in 8 years this robot can be use it for everybody and it will be more useful. The LG that is one of the biggest technology enterprises is already working on chores technology; they expect that within 10 years they will create a fridge that automatically placed online shopping orders, a washing machine that could be activated using a mobile phone, vacuum cleaners with a mind of their own and an oven that detects if food is burnt and turns itself off. Also they expect that during all those years the people still be excited with the idea of change the future, because today the young people aged 16-24-year-olds are the most optimistic for the future, therefore they dream with homes forming intelligent networks to automate basic tasks such as laundry and ironing and if we see this dream is not silly or crazy at all. We can see

one part of this dream at riches houses because today it is expensive, we hope that within some years it will be cheaper because it is supposed that everybody will have access to these devices. Another expectation on this area is the creation of a robotic housekeeper; this machine will be able to clean the entire house while the owners are sleeping. In the opinion of her future creator Mr. Corbett-Davies this inventions will not be assay as everyone thinks, because of the human behavior. We are very unpredictable society, our behavior is constantly changing, one day we do this and the other day we can do any other thing and the robot need to be ready to face with all those possible actions. To sum up, the future is coming and we need to be preparing ourselves to cope with it. The chores technology is constantly working to make better our life. And within 8 or 10 years it will be better and more useful; we will not do some activities that we considered normal today, because the robots or machines will do it for us. It expects that this technology will be more accessible to everybody but it will be more difficult to create because of the humans behavior. The machines need to know how to cope with every situation. In conclusion there are so many expectations about the future and we hope that all of them can be true in a near future.