Robotic arms have taken a lot of work out of our hands in the industry. Yet, we are busier than ever. We hardly have time to live. But now there are also robots for the house to assist us. They can take over many domestic tasks from us. Do they continue the liberation that was introduced with the vacuum cleaner and the washing machine? Google And Amazon: Is It Really Smart Technology?
Google And Amazon's Smart Technology
Photo by LG
Who does not know the dream of the gnomes who – unasked - do all the nasty chores in the house? They exist! With several electronics companies, Internet giants Google and Amazon have developed programs for various smart in-home help. 'Smart Technology,' for example, for the 'Assistant' who does not have eyes and cannot walk or wave, but who can carry out oral assignments to operate the oven, the washing machine, kitchen machines, or the shower thermostat. You can also ask questions about the weather report or the situation on the roads. In the future, 'Assistants' will also send advertising messages.
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Smart Technology: A Listening Ear, Google Home
Photo by Google
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Some helpers go further: they are meant as a 'pivot in the household' and are supposed to make themselves indispensable by arranging everything: the lighting in the house, the vacuuming, or the laundry. For example, a robot can ensure that sports clothes are washed on time if there is an appointment with the agenda's fitness center. They can also give cooking tips, select news, have a conversation, play games with the children, and take photos or films of special moments in the family.
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Google: GPS Effect
Everything is taken care of by the industrious electronic gnomes: the laundry is done, the floor sucked, the children are entertained with stories or games ... do they now offer residents the freedom to follow or develop a new interest? It could be, but at a price: just as people become dependent on the navigation in the car and no longer know where they actually are, residents can also become dependent on the helping electronics and the overview, and thus the control about the household. You might say that residents are now visiting themselves.
But having said this, let's look at what residents, now that they are freed from the worries that housing brings with them, will do with their vacant time. Can they indeed follow or develop new interests thanks to robots?
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Smart Technology: Embarrassment Of Choice
Thanks to the rat race, they can choose from an abundance of products. There is probably something in between that arouses a new interest or sets a new development in motion. Still, a problem here is that the consumer - due to the constant advertising bombardment that the 'rat race' has to keep going - can have some trouble in recognizing their own interests.
This can make it difficult to make a meaningful choice ... from the visit to a theme park, a weekend to a strange city, a nature walk, eating out, a visit to the zoo, a new smartphone, new contemporary furniture, an electric bicycle or investment in renewable energy.
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Why do they not leave the choice to one of the house robots? The self-learning algorithms with which they are equipped to recognize patterns in human behavior rather than the people involved, so these robots can also predict future needs! So choosing with these algorithms is in good hands! For example, house robots could together ensure a smooth and carefree life without annoying housework and also without choice stress.
Photo by Click Americana
Smart Technology: Helpful House Robots
But with this, these helpful robots can contribute to residents losing control, not only about the household but also about the choices they make and, therefore, about the direction they want to develop further. This makes these robots essentially different from simple machines such as the vacuum cleaner or the washing machine.
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Google, Amazon, Facebook: ‘Big Brother,’ George Orwell
In the meantime, through Google, Amazon, and Facebook, these robots pass on data about our way of living, buying and eating habits, and other interests to companies that can use these to offer products for prices that are both geared to the residents. Big Brothers are watching us and take advantage of that. The fact that the 'Assistant' will also send advertising messages in the future was already a warning.
Photo Cover 1984 George Orwell
Smart? The Invisible Hand
Now, these Big Brothers can rightly be seen as a danger. Still, they only follow the 'invisible hand' automatism,' namely becoming big and strong and making as much advertising possible. And in the latter, they are particularly successful, as their home robots indeed contribute to consumers losing control of their private lives and are happy with all the robots' choices in their private lives.
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1984
This can have an alarming consequence ... If the commercially interesting offers from companies are constantly coming up to the internet searches, products that do not have a commercial interest will no longer have a chance. All the more because the storage capacity of data centers irrevocably lags behind the exponentially growing collection of big data about consumers. Then choices have to be made, and then one day, there may be no more critical sounds on the net. Like the 1984 book by George Orwell!
Not Only For The Home
Ultimately, it is not so exciting, or cute, or convenient to the offered robots with 'Smart Technology' to take home. They do not serve the residents but the 'invisible hand.' 'Smart Technology' is not only available in-house: robots and computers are also active in public areas.
Before you go!
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