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A Chicken In Every Pot, A Robot In Every Home 110

Posted by Hemos from the i-for-one-welcome-our-new-robotic dept.
Palm Addict writes "The New York Times report that "South Korea, the world's most wired country, is rushing to turn what sounds like science fiction into everyday life. The government, which succeeded in getting broadband Internet into 72 percent of all households in the last half decade, has marshaled an army of scientists and business leaders to make robots full members of society.""
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A Chicken In Every Pot, A Robot In Every Home More

A Chicken In Every Pot, A Robot In Every Home

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  • Mr. Roboto (Score:3, Funny)

    by ExE122 ( 954104 ) * on Monday April 03, 2006 @09:33AM (#15049438) Homepage Journal
    It seems to me that even the smartest robots [spacedaily.com] are still only about as intellectually capable as me and my roommates after a heavy night of drinking.

    So naturally, the next step for them is to be made citizens. That way, they can't dodge the draft [engadget.com].

    While they've already began using them for educational [slashdot.org] and military [bbc.co.uk] purposes, I somehow doubt that they will become useful anytime soon. They will be something used only by the government or by the rich until enough money is thrown in and research is done to turn them into anything worth considering.

    • Re:Mr. Roboto (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 03, 2006 @09:38AM (#15049475)
      "It seems to me that even the smartest robots [spacedaily.com] are still only about as intellectually capable as me and my roommates after a heavy night of drinking." They vomit on the floor, have unprotected sex and post on Slashdot ?

    • Re:Mr. Roboto (Score:5, Funny)

      by XMilkProject ( 935232 ) on Monday April 03, 2006 @09:44AM (#15049521) Homepage
      I don't know that it takes alot of intelligence for a robot to bring you a beer or give you a hand job.

      That is what they are for, isn't it?
    • Tell that to my mother I you will surely be hit with her purse, let me rephrase what she told me when I bought her this cute robot [irobot.com], it was something like "wow, and think that this gadget manages to clean better than you did" (as I hated to clean my room when I was a kid).

    • Re:Mr. Roboto (Score:2, Funny)

      by Fordiman ( 689627 ) *
      I for one welcome our - hey, wait now. It's not funny if its topical is it?
      • In Soviet Korea, only old robot overlords welcome YOU!!

      • Re:Mr. Roboto (Score:3, Interesting)

        by thc69 ( 98798 )
        It's more topical than you think. Not only the robot part, but the overlords part too. They will all be networked to a central government facility. Big Brother, anybody?

        It's an odd coincidence, today, I've been reading "With Folded Hands" by Jack Williamson. It's about a guy who sells robots (scarcely more than voice-controlled Roombas that can retrieve the dirty dishes from your table) for home automation, who is put unexpectedly and immediately out of business when technologically advanced centrally contr
        • "Er, anyway, my point was about the central control and the possibilities therein. I guess I'm glad it's happening in Korea, rather than my location." This is why in the west we never have anything inovative in terms of robotics for the public. The people are too afraid of the robots, due to all the hollywood movies, when really they are harmless.
          • You've failed in the area of reading comprehension. I'm not the least bit bothered by robots; I'm quite bothered by the central government having an electronic presence by my side at all times, or even merely in my living room.

            I, for one, would wholeheartedly welcome robots to do all kinds of stuff for me...as long as it only reports to *me*.
            • Yeah, right, the society that wants our computers and all media playback devices to be DRM shackled is going to let us have a personal robot that does what _we_ want instead of being a cross between an annoying nanny and a cop.

              "HappyFunBot thinks you've already had enough to drink, so the refrigerator will not open for 24 hours".
              "HappyFunBot notes you have gained 1.77Kg. You will eat 800 calories and run for 40 minutes per day until healthy".
              "You are about to have unprotected sex. Here is a condom which you
    • Pin Pals: You can do it, Otto! You can do it, Otto! Help each other out: that'll be our motto! You can do it, Otto! You can do it, Otto!
      Apu: Make this spare; I'll give you free gelato!
      Moe: Then back to my place, where I will get you blotto!
      Homer: Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto.

  • NY Times Article Access (Score:5, Informative)

    by eldavojohn ( 898314 ) * <eldavojohn@noSpAM.gmail.com> on Monday April 03, 2006 @09:33AM (#15049439) Journal
    Nobody likes to register so try this link [nytimes.com].

    I apologize for the karma whoring.
    • At least not for me in Firefox. Mind a cut and paste?
      • Is it still considered karma whoring if I already have good karma?
        Anyway, just use underrated and the person doesn't get the bonus. Whatever:

        SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea, the world's most wired country, is rushing to turn what sounds like science fiction into everyday life. The government, which succeeded in getting broadband Internet into 72 percent of all households in the last half decade, has marshaled an army of scientists and business leaders to make robots full members of society.

        By 2007,

  • I call bullshit (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Impossible - everyone knows that in Korea, only old people own robots.
  • And not just the summary (as it was copied & pasted verbatim from the article), but the NYT.

    I thought on reading the line " to make robots full members of society" that the article was talking about robot [rfreitas.com] rights. [geocities.com] However, the article is just about making plans for standard automation & borderline AI over the next 10 years.

    I for one am going to await until this company [irobot.com] is taken over by the rightful owners of that name before I bother to get excited by robots.
    • Yeah, it's the same way that cars are "full members of society."
    • *I*'ll wait until they merge with *this [realdoll.com]* company before I get excited by robots.

      Until then I'll be at the pub.
    • The interesting thing then becomes, if robots ever get voting rights, do the makers of the company start mass producing voters to "buy" elections for the highest bidder, at least until the party with less money decides to outlaw the practice? Except, then you'd have to be able to override the robot vote to disenfranchise the robots.

  • U.S. (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The government, which succeeded in getting broadband Internet into 72 percent of all households in the last half decade

    As a red blooded American, I say 'it can't be done.'

  • Totally misconstrued as... (Score:5, Funny)

    by digitaldc ( 879047 ) * on Monday April 03, 2006 @09:39AM (#15049478)
    Pot in every home, Robot Chicken on TV. [adultswim.com]
  • In a Wired South Korea, only old Robots Will Feel Right at Home.

    Now usable for the typical Slashdot crowd ;)
    Never have seen a title so easy to fix :)
  • It's time to raise the awareness!

      Robots will uprise. HUAR will be there.

    http://www.humansunitedagainstrobots.com/ [humansunit...robots.com]
  • Kim Mun Sang, director of the Center for Intelligent Robotics, which groups about 500 scientists in a project by government and industry, said networked robots needed a "killer app" before they could become fully integrated into the wired society.

    I definately think the killer app is, "Robot, find my car keys!"

    __
    Elephant Essays [elephantessays.com] - Custom-created essays and research papers.

  • Robots? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by TechnoGuyRob ( 926031 ) on Monday April 03, 2006 @09:53AM (#15049587) Homepage
    This is a very, very, very daring venture, and if South Korea succeeds, I can only congratulate them with all my heart. But, one has to ask; are "robots" ready to enter society? We have been seeing things like ATMs, the internet, and various other technologies exploited over the years, whether for identity theft, spam, etc. If the same thing happens to robots, we could be facing some problems.

    But to be honest, after reading the article, I am quite impressed. I did not know this. Take, for example:
    Since January, Koreans have been able to watch television broadcasts on cellphones, free, thanks to government-subsidized technology. In April, South Korea will introduce the first nationwide superfast wireless Internet service, called WiBro, eventually making it possible for Koreans to remain online on the go -- at 10 megabits per second, faster than most conventional broadband connections.
    I'll come straight out with it. That is very impressive. However, as I have stated before, technology--while helpful--can cause problems as well. I mean, it's great that (from the article) "Two years ago, after the opposition-led National Assembly impeached President Roh Moo Hyun, a consensus began forming on the Internet that the move was politically motivated -- two hours after the vote took place, Mr. Chang said. That quickly led to mass demonstrations," he said. "That kind of thing had never happened in Korea before. Everyone is connected to everyone else, so issues spread very fast and kind of unpredictably." However, then you have incidents like this:
    There has been at least one unpredictable side effect: fierce witch hunts. In a case that caused national soul-searching, a woman riding the subway with her dog last year refused to clean up after it defecated in the car. One angry passenger photographed her with a camera-equipped cellphone and later posted the photos. Soon, all of wired South Korea seemed to be on the hunt for "Dog Poop Girl." Several misidentified women were verbally attacked, and finally the woman herself was identified on the Internet and humiliated as the topic of countless online discussions.


    Honestly, I think South Korea might be moving a little too fast for its own good. People aren't getting a chance to adapt. But then again, who knows?
    "But eventually robots could change how we live in a way we can't predict right now," Mr. Kim said. "It's like the PC. No one ever thought the PC and the Internet would transform our society the way they have."

    • Re:Robots? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by mshiltonj ( 220311 ) <mshiltonj@NoSPaM.gmail.com> on Monday April 03, 2006 @10:42AM (#15049928) Homepage Journal
      A woman who refuses to pick up her dog's crap after it takes a dump on the subway *deserves* to humiliated.

      If a dog craps on the carpet, you rub his nose in it. If a dog craps on the subway, and the owner doesn't pick it up, you rub *her* nose in it.
      • Rubbing a dog's nose in their poop is useless. Dogs use poop as buisness card with a complete medical history on the back of it. The grabing by the neck and being forced down might do some good but dogs and people have two very differnt ideas on poop.

        As for the witch hunt: Given the nature of shame in eastern culture I would expect this to the last time that anyone refuses to pick up after their pet, be it on a tram or in a park or anywhere else.

      • A woman who refuses to pick up her dog's crap after it takes a dump on the subway *deserves* to humiliated.

        If a dog craps on the carpet, you rub his nose in it. If a dog craps on the subway, and the owner doesn't pick it up, you rub *her* nose in it.

        Yeah but what about the other people who were humiliated that had nothing to do with this event. Trust people are too uptight and this just shows it. To have a large group of people become obsessive over this one thing is just stupid.

      • "A woman who refuses to pick up her dog's crap after it takes a dump on the subway *deserves* to humiliated."

        Hows the view from up there?

        Humiliated perhaps, but it went much further than simple humiliation. Eventually her home address was posted on the internet, there were news stories on the national news channels about it and people were getting information about her parents/family and posting it etc etc. The girl had to quit her university because of it. Did she fuck up? of course, but you would have to

    • Would you want your sister to marry one? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by wsanders ( 114993 ) on Monday April 03, 2006 @01:35PM (#15051697) Homepage
      Really it all boils down to one question. I don't see any problem here.

      - I wouldn't mind if my sister married an ATM, for example, it would be really easy to beat him at poker and I'd have all the cash I wanted.

      - And what's the problem with "Dog Poop Girl"? She needed the humiliation.

      - And what's wrong with organizing mass demonstrations by IM? Already happens everywhere.

    • "Soon, all of wired South Korea seemed to be on the hunt for "Dog Poop Girl." Several misidentified women were verbally attacked, and finally the woman herself was identified on the Internet and humiliated as the topic of countless online discussions."

      Honestly, I think South Korea might be moving a little too fast for its own good. People aren't getting a chance to adapt. But then again, who knows?

      To be brutal (and if I was a victim I might feel otherwise!), but is this bad? I mean, some people go

    • But to be honest, after reading the article, I am quite impressed. I did not know this. Take, for example:



      Since January, Koreans have been able to watch television broadcasts on cellphones, free, thanks to government-subsidized technology.

      Enh. I don't find it all that impressive. "Free" in this case means, "paid for by taxing Korean citizens". Think about that for a moment, then ask yourself, "is delivering free TV to cell phones really the best use of your citizen's money?"

  • Think about how much technology advanced between 1935 and 1945. Compare that to the advancement between 1960 and 1970.

    The problem, though is that we have nuclear weapons, so there's no reason to on-the ground wars at all.

    Still, if the iraq war were to continue, I could imagine a million-strong robot army would actually help us put a dent in the insurgency, without taking the kinds of casualties that make the war so distastefull at home. Robot soldures could take risks that real soldures can't, so they coul
    • Plus, it would really demoralize the insurgency. They know they can scare us off if they keep killing soldures, but you can never kill enough robots.

      Obligatory:

      Zapp: You see, the killbots have a preset kill limit; knowing their weakness, I sent wave after wave of my own men at them until they reached their limit and shut down.
      Bender: It was a dark day for robotkind. Ahhhh, we can always build more killbots.
    • Plus, it would really demoralize the insurgency. They know they can scare us off if they keep killing soldures, but you can never kill enough robots.

      That's a nice optimistic thought. Unfortunately, in real life it would probably be more like "it would really delight the insurgency, because they only have to hack one and they have a million killing machines they can send at the US troops". (You can tell how much faith I have in the software industry . . .)

      • "it would really delight the insurgency, because they only have to hack one and they have a million killing machines they can send at the US troops".

        I'm with Masamune Shirow [asgard.gen.nz] on this one: Advanced automated devices--especially military and paramilitary devices--will require almost-constant maintenance services from an advanced industrial infrastructure.

        Hack one, and it's yours until its component failure. After that, you better hope you're in charge of a major industrial superpower, if you plan on repairing
  • I for.... one....

    It just isn't worth the effort.

  • Better make sure my robot insurance [robotmarketplace.com] is up to date.

  • Physical agency and human robots (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Bombula ( 670389 ) on Monday April 03, 2006 @10:55AM (#15050047)
    The line from Bladerunner about machines either being a benefit or a hazard pretty well sums things up.

    I think the biggest concern is that machines are liable to be used to destructive ends by manipulative people. Right now machines with physical agency (like cars) have very little in the way of independent capability: they can't really function independently of a human operator. And machines which can function independently of an operator lack physical agency (like ATMs).

    The problem with humanoid robots is that they combin independence with physical agency. Even putting the entire issue of AI aside, such machines could be extremely dangerous because they have the potential to be misdirected for destructive purposes by people. Imagine if a 12 year old kid or a terrorist could instruct a big SUV by remote control?

    It's not so much humanoid robots that are the concern, but larger machines like vehicles that are a worry to me. Right now it is virutally impossible to remotely hack the controls of an airliner, for example, but if planes began to be made to follow instructions issued from less narrow sources of input - by voice or remote control - then the window for abuse opens dramatically.

    As I said, I won't get into AI since that's way too big of an issue, but there is one more point worth thinking about, and that is human beings as robots. Where human beings are profoundly ignorant and very fearful, they are vulnerable to manipulation. That's where terrorists come from. From a certain perspective, suicide bombers are like robots that are being misguided by malevolent human manipulators. Since without highly advanced AI they will presumably be easier to manipulate than even the most ignorant person, robots with physical agency could very quickly become the tool of choice for terrorism.

    • As I said, I won't get into AI since that's way too big of an issue, but there is one more point worth thinking about, and that is human beings as robots. Where human beings are profoundly ignorant and very fearful, they are vulnerable to manipulation. That's where terrorists come from. From a certain perspective, suicide bombers are like robots that are being misguided by malevolent human manipulators. Since without highly advanced AI they will presumably be easier to manipulate than even the most ignorant

      • "Unfortunately, this type of method depends on how the robot is programmed in the first place."

        They will be programmed as well as other complex programmable things such as computers, using similar tools and methodoiogies. I therefore hope there's an easy way of turning them off.

  • Built for speed (Score:2, Insightful)

    by fbrchnl2112 ( 946378 )
    That South Korean robot can run slightly faster than I can. That ought to count for something. fbr

  • Roomba (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mccalli ( 323026 ) on Monday April 03, 2006 @11:07AM (#15050164) Homepage
    How timely. I bought my first home robot on Saturday, a Roomba vacuuming robot. It's working superbly, and am very happy with the frankly mindless job its doing having been transferred from either myself or my wife and over to a machine instead.

    What I find interesting is that I have three kids, the eldest being four. They're going to grow up in a house where it's not considered unusual to have a robot pootling about the place doing domestic chores, whereas to my generation (I'm 34) that's still a "hey, cool!" thing. Nobody says "hey cool, you've got a washing machine!" anymore, at least no-one in the developed world (I'm in the UK).

    I'm hoping that the Roomba is just the start of a number of domestic robots. I wouldn't mind one that could wash windows for example, both internal and external. Or a polishing robot. Or a mail-gaethering robot*, or preferable one robot capapble of doing all of it.

    I would imaginethat by the time my kids are 34, domestic robots will be so common that even the phraseology will seem absolete. Sort of like your granny talking about the 'wireless', meaning something utterly different to what you mean by the wireless. They'd just be part of the normal experience of daily life. By getting kids used to the idea that there's nothing special about having a robot, such a day is hastened. And my floors get cleaned as well.

    Cheers,
    Ian
    (*Forget the mail-gathering robot from the Hitchhiker's adventure game. I know about the mail-gathering robot from the Hitchhiker's adventure game. Damned babel fish machine...)

    • What I find interesting is that I have three kids, the eldest being four. They're going to grow up in a house where it's not considered unusual to have a robot pootling about the place doing domestic chores, whereas to my generation (I'm 34) that's still a "hey, cool!" thing. Nobody says "hey cool, you've got a washing machine!" anymore, at least no-one in the developed world (I'm in the UK).

      Methinks your "washing machine" analogy is waaaaaaaaay off. These robots will become part of the family in a way tha
    • I have to second you on the Roomba. We're had one for about a year now and it's great. My kids love to follow it around and talk to it (3 & 4 yrs). I'd like to get the base that it can be programmed to go back to and hide it in the wall so I'd be like the Jetsons! Just tell it to come out at 3AM.

      Incidently, I was explaining to my kids just yesterday about how you cant pause TV at grandpa's house. So many things they'll never truly appreciate...

    • A bit OT but... its like kids growing up these days with the digital camera age. natural for them to just run over and look at the picturse right after it was taken. not totally unheard of when i was a kid (polaroid) but still...
  • Has anyone stopped to ask why this is such a great idea? A robot is
    just a computer with wheels (or legs). How exactly is this going to
    help anyone anymore than a computer does already? Oh sure , all the
    techno evangelists who've read one too many Sci Fi novels wheel
    out the old "help you in the home" rubbish. But when was the last
    time you saw a robot that was ANY practical use WHATSOEVER for
    the home? Toys yes, helpful no.

    They give an example of robots teaching kids. Err , scuse me , where
    are the parents and te
    • Has anyone stopped to ask why this is such a great idea? A robot is just a computer with wheels (or legs). How exactly is this going to help anyone anymore than a computer does already?

      Err...by moving. Using its wheels (or legs).

      ...when was the last time you saw a robot that was ANY practical use WHATSOEVER for the home?

      This weekend, as it vacuumed my house [eruvia.org] (shortness of video doesn't do it justice).

      Cheers,
      Ian

      • >Err...by moving. Using its wheels (or legs).

        Great , so it can wobble about and bump into things. Excellent.

        >This weekend, as it vacuumed my house (shortness of video doesn't do it justice).

        How'd it manage to do the stairs? In the corners. Around the tops
        of things. Its a gimmick mate. Which was my point.
        • How'd it manage to do the stairs? In the corners. Around the tops of things. Its a gimmick mate. Which was my point.

          Corners? Fine - did it with a brush. It didn't do the stairs. The tops of things - nope. So it's a gmmick? No, not at all.

          If the argument is "have we reached a state of robo-nirvana?", then of course I concede. But your question was "when was the last time you saw a robot that was any help at all around the house" - and for that my answer stands. I was busy yesterday, but still the upstair

          • We returned our Roomba. It gets stuck under low furniture, and doesn't really get up dog and cat hair that has worked into the rugs. You can't turn it on and expect it to do all the rooms on one floor (the whole downstairs). It has trouble with things like dining rooms and kitchens with lots of tables and chairs. It doesn't get up the stuff stuck to the kitchen floor.

            If it really could clean well, it's dust bin isn't nearly large enough. And yes, it would be nice if it could do the stairs/steps, clean i

    • > Has anyone stopped to ask why this is such a great idea? A robot is
      >just a computer with wheels (or legs). How exactly is this going to
      >help anyone anymore than a computer does already?

      Oddly enough, a human being is just a computer with legs, except that a human runs on food while a robot runs on fossil fuels. I'll leave it to the reader to decide which one is more efficient.

    • A robot is just a computer with wheels (or legs).

      No it isn't. A robot is far more than just a computer. You can't just plop a CS major and have him program a robot. A robot has to react to it's environment by the information it gets from it's sensors. The number of ways this can be accomplished has been probably as varied as the number of computer languages that are available. In fact some computer langauges have been created with the sole purpose of using them for robotics.

      ut when was the last time y

  • OK, but I'm only doing it because he was Remington Steele.
    -- Marge Simpson

  • goofy post title invites troll (Score:3, Interesting)

    by museumpeace ( 735109 ) on Monday April 03, 2006 @11:58AM (#15050733) Journal
    but before you mod this comment down, check out the facts [hankooki.com]

    It would be good if they had robots to do the dirty work in Korea because as it stands, they think that is what women are for. [nanum.org]
    • That's not just in Korea... don't have to look far outside North America or Europe to see the same thing. Doesn't matter if its small town souther Italy or small town Louisianna.

      But being the dad of a 20 month old boy, I sometimes dream of the freedom robotic parents could provide.

  • Primates First (Score:3)

    by Hoi Polloi ( 522990 ) on Monday April 03, 2006 @12:00PM (#15050751) Journal
    It's funny how we are ready to protect robots but we still treat our closest genetic kin, other primates, as nothing more than cheap food ("bush meat") or lab rats.
  • There are plenty of Filipino workers who would jump at the chance to work in an industrialized country like South Korea to do menial jobs at low wages, but the insular mentality of that country is such that they would be more comfortable integrating robots than foreigners into their society. Currently 99.8% of the population of South Korea is ethnic Korean, immigration laws are extremely restrictive, and there's huge political pressure to keep this.

    Koreans know that as their population ages and moves in

    • there was a bit nearly about this somewhere, but in aplication to japanese xenophobia. it was talking about how a majority of polled citizens in tokya said they would be more comfortable with a robot coming into thier home and doing menial chores than a cheaply paid foreigner. im sorry i can find the source as it goes right along this article funny how the japanese and koreans are historicly so racist and especially failed to get along with eachoother. oh sorry im a silly gaijin did i say racist? i meant se
  • "... make robots full members of society." Cool... so now I can drive in the High Occupancy Vehicle lane, as long as my Roomba is the passenger seat? Great!
  • Pot and robot chickens in every home! *cluckbeepcluckbeep* Oh yeah. Kung-Fu Robot Chickens, even better! They can help defend against those pesky cows with guns I heard about on the radio once...
  • Ummm..."Members of society"??? Just wait till they unionize and start demanding health care. Or would that be maintenance? Hmm...have you signed up for your MMO plan yet? (Machine Maintenance Organization) Open enrollment ends today.
  • The few and far between pictures of what Koreans consider robots show their definition of robot is more like a vending machine or an ATM. If their robot utopia was real, they would be helping u.s. in Iraq.

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