Personal robots? Give M.I.T. about five years.

Image Source: justincaseyouwerewondering.com

It's pretty obvious these days that the average human being is a tad lazy. That's not a complete generalisation, either. After all, mankind has spent millenia attempting to make daily activities easier and less strenuous. Cavemen didn't exactly stop by the local butcher whenever they had a hankering for a juicy steak; they had to get it themselves. The dream of having a piece of machinery wash the dishes and paint the ceiling has been stuck in our heads for quite some time. You may even argue that robots are the ultimate epitome of human laziness; why do anything if you can  get somebody else to do it free of charge?

Reportedly, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have finally put a deadline on the time until this dream becomes a reality. A five-year long research project costing around $10,000,000 has recently started at the institute, with the established endgame of "bringing the power of robots to the average person". There's the supposed deadline: five years. So, around 2017, this gives the idea that you'll see people walking around the local supermarket with their own R2-D2 and C-3PO droids. Star Wars references aside, you have to admit that sounds pretty cool. But is it really realistic at this point? When you picture a "futuristic" world with robots, teleportation and flying vehicles, it's doubtful you'd associate the year 2017 with it all. Fiction in particular places substantial emphasis on that.

Image Source: news.com.au

Now, surely, you're thinking that picking up a $50 robot on sale at K-Mart isn't something you'll be able to do in only five years. Realistically, you'd be completely correct. With all the ridiculously experiment materials and technologies it takes to build an operational, mobile robot at this stage, you'd be more than likely to choose to buy a fancy beachside mansion instead. Allegedly, another major aim of this costly project is to find new means of manufacturing these robots. Essentially, the final goal and primary aim is  to make higher quality robots from lower quality materials. Clearly, that's easier said than done. The solution? Automated production of devices from paper and plastics. That may sound good on paper, but that clearly ignores the fact that the production of machines to fashion robotic devices from paper and plastics also needs consideration. Maybe we can fashion these machines from paper and plastics too! Not unless we want an infinite loop of machines created from paper and plastics creating subsequent machines out of paper and plastics as well.