

The Living Room of the Future, from 1979 (pic) - abstractbill
http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1271028593&context=pool-441605@N25&size=l

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pg
Interesting. Every one has happened, except that perennial tarpit, the robot
serving drinks.

Predictions about the future are driven by a mix of what we expect to happen
and what we hope will happen. Domestic robots, flying cars, and apps that take
natural language commands are dangerous to work on because predictions about
them are driven mainly by hope.

~~~
ivankirigin
To temper dreams of robots:

There will be a lag in robots in the home before there is a boom. The problem
is that manipulating an environment is harder than moving around in it, or
even understanding it.

A Roomba can get around, but only the latest version has any idea where it is.
Even if it did localization and mapping, it would just be a better vacuum
cleaner. Applications available to robots that can move around and know where
they are include surveillance, reconnaissance, tele-presence, and most
importantly: automated driving. AutoBots will be huge, and soon.

But it will be a long time before robots make you drinks using the tools you
use. A robot will sooner recognize my drink is a Gin & Tonic than make it.

~~~
altay
Actually, I hacked my Roomba to bring me gin & tonics.

~~~
ivankirigin
I'd love to see the design :)

~~~
altay
Sadly, I was kidding. Does sound like a fun project, though. Hey, that's quite
a vision of the future: your Roomba gets you drunk, and your AutoBot drives
you home.

~~~
ivankirigin
When I work on commercial automated driving, I plan to get Budweiser to
sponsor the effort. Perpetually vigilant designated driver == license to drink
like a fish.

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dpapathanasiou
Just goes to show how difficult making predication about the future is: except
for the domestic robot, none of those have been realized yet.

~~~
davidw
Eh? It's actually not _too_ bad, once you get past the captain-dork-of-the-
future outfit that guy has on (replete with white boots):

\- Giant tv's - can't say since they don't define giant, but what with
projects and huge flat screens, I'd say it's true.

\- Flat screen tvs.

\- Video camera - they're wrong about the holographs, but right about
electronic cameras.

\- video disc player - well... not quite, but pretty close.

\- most mail will be sent in electronic form. I think that's true - just that
the volume of paper mail didn't diminish.

~~~
pg
I think he was joking.

~~~
davidw
Err..oops... I'd been perusing reddit...

~~~
nmeyer
We all make mistakes.

