CSA Online by Andrew Moore-Crispin WELCOME HOME, ROBOT HELPERS Remember way back, watching Saturday morning cartoons, what we thought the future would look like? After-school specials and breathless magazine spreads detailing all of the advancements that we’d definitely be living with in the new millennium. Or the 35mm filmstrip (manually advanced by some keener student each time the accompanying LP voice track went BOOOP) that talked about all of the possibilities of tomorrow? Now, have a quick look around your home. We’re not quite there yet. Growing up, I thought that by the time I had a home of my own (let alone a second place to vacation in, fingers crossed on that one) there’d be a robot like Rosie from the Jetsons whizzing around, doing all of the household labour. I figured that the meals, the laundry, the vacuuming and other such menial tasks would be looked after. It’s 2018. By historical pop culture accounts, we shouldn’t have to lift a finger anymore. Everything should just be looked after by Rosie or a similar robot helper. But we don’t have Rosie. Instead, what we have today is a series of purpose-built home helpers. Robots, but not the do-it-all, occasional back-sassing sort we saw in 1960s cartoon lore. So, while we’re living here in the future, let’s take a look at some of the household helper robots that are available to us while we await Rosie. Well, her and the flying cars we were promised. Cozmo doesn’t do anything to help around the house unless playing games and generally injecting a little levity counts. He (she? it?) is the most personable of all the robots on this list. Cozmo looks like the result of Apple teaming up with Pixar to make a bulldozer. Stranger things have happened, right? Cozmo’s ultra-expressive face makes it impossible to not think that there’s more to him than meets the eye. Cozmo is designed more with the grandkids in mind; he plays some simple but amusing games using three included “Power Cubes.” He can be controlled via a tablet or smartphone and can also act as a simple entry point to coding (basically, the evolution of computer programming); place a series of behaviour tiles in a sequence to create a routine for Cozmo to follow. What’s more, an available software development kit (SDK) allows Cozmo enthusiasts to create new games and abilities that can be downloaded and installed in much the same way as you’d install an app. They don’t come much more purpose-built than this. As the maker puts it, “FoldiMate is like having a friend who loves laundry folding…” which is admittedly a weird quality to look for in a friend. Feed clothes into the mouth of this machine, about the size of an apartment-sized washer, and they’re pulled in before being quickly and perfectly folded. The resulting stack of perfectly folded what-have-yous is dropped into a hopper at the bottom of the machine, ready to be put back into rotation. FoldiMate can handle shirts, blouses, jeans, trousers, towels, pillowcases and the like. Socks and unmentionables will still need to be folded the old-fashioned way. It promises to fold a whole load of laundry in a mere four minutes. Not for everyone, granted, but if you’ve got a dislike for folding clothes that borders on pathological, maybe it’s worth a look. FoldiMate is currently in a pre-order phase. They’re expected to start shipping units in late 2019. So maybe your laundry-loving friend can stick around a little longer. USD $980 foldimate.com CDN $249.99 cozmo.com Cozmo FoldiMate 50 | www.snowbirds.org
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