--- description: On The Jetsons, Rosie was the robot maid with a heart of silicon and the voice of an aging cocktail waitress. She did everything: cook,... title: Where’s Our Rosie? Why We Don’t Have Domestic Robots Yet image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt133cb27e2f9633da/6998bd2793610c9a8dc2e96c/jetsons_rosie.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) # Where's Our Rosie? Why We Don't Have Domestic Robots Yet by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) Dec 21, 2011 9:55 AM CUT  Jane Jetson & Rosey the Robot Jane Jetson & Rosey the RobotHanna-Barbera / Everett Collection by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) Dec 21, 2011 9:55 AM CUT On _The Jetsons_, Rosie was the robot maid with a heart of silicon and the voice of an aging cocktail waitress. She did everything: cook, clean, take care of the kids. Today, a robot can help you disarm a bomb in Afghanistan, but it can’t make you an omelette. So, where is our Rosie? Why don’t we have robots in our homes that can do the cleaning, cooking and housework that we don’t want to do? Sure there are robots that can mow your lawn, clean your pool and vacuum your floors, but nothing like the do-it-all domestic robot that helped George, Jane, Judy and Elroy go about their daily lives. (**MORE:** [7 Real, Functional Robots You Can Buy Right Now](http://techland.time.com/2011/12/14/7-real-functional-robots-you-can-buy-right-now/#romo "undefined")) Recently Greg Shirakyan, the Microsoft Robotics developer responsible for the [roaming party photographer robot,](http://techland.time.com/2011/11/02/microsoft-creates-autonomous-party-photographer-robot/ "undefined") penned a fascinating blog post exploring the question “[What is a household robot?](http://blogs.msdn.com/b/msroboticsstudio/archive/2011/12/01/household-robot.aspx "undefined")” His definition: “A device that can intelligently move parts or all of itself around a home and do useful stuff” and that is “not being continuously controlled by a person, and not getting stuck.”Simple, right? Not quite. Shirakyan points out that our homes are set up to accommodate full-grown human beings. We make minor adjustments for children and pets because we are emotionally attached them. Thus, we have two options: reconfigure our homes to accommodate appealing, useful robots or create robots advanced enough to navigate and manipulate environments made for us. Let’s posit that our end goal is some variation of Rosie, a humanoid, multi-tasking domestic robot that takes commands through speech and visual cues. What, exactly, is holding us back? ## Intelligence & Autonomy One reason you don’t have a robot housekeeper is that robots just aren’t that smart right now. Not that they can’t perform complicated tasks, it’s just that they can’t perform them autonomously. While footage of Honda’s ASIMO [pouring a fresh glass of juice](http://techland.time.com/2011/11/16/how-hondas-asimo-became-the-running-drink-serving-autonomous-robot-it-is-today/ "undefined") is impressive, you probably don’t have time to lay out a thermos of juice and a cup on a tray every morning; if you did, you’d probably just pour yourself the juice and save the robot the trouble. Let’s put it this way: If you had a butler and you asked him to make you a sandwich, clean your bedroom and do your laundry, you’d be pretty annoyed if you had to take all of the ingredients out of the refrigerator for him, lead him by hand to your bedroom to clean it and then separate all of the colors in your laundry basket before letting him put your clothes in the washing machine. Make no mistake, there have been some amazing advances in robot autonomy lately. It’s just that the human standard for autonomy is pretty high—a 7-year-old learning about responsibility can take on more household chores than even the most advanced robot. nextpage ## Materials Metal! Good for strength and durability, not so good for fragile human skin and fine china. Imagine Little Tommy accidentally running into a 120 lb. aluminum robot in the hallway and you can see why homeowners would be reluctant to buy the Chore-Bot 2000\. Not to mention that most robots today work in factories, where their hard grips are an asset, not a liability like they’d be in a home full of breakable eggs and wine glasses. That’s why researchers are working to create machines out of softer materials that would leave grandma unharmed if her robot was on the fritz. Earlier I [covered the research](http://techland.time.com/2011/12/07/squishy-soft-robots-crawl-their-way-to-the-cutting-edge-of-science/ "undefined") of Eduardo Torres-Jara of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, who is working on a soft robotic arm with tactile sensors on its fingertips that could handle delicate objects and be manipulated by human hands, meaning you could gently pull its fingers apart if it grabbed something it wasn’t supposed to without fearing for your safety. (**MORE:** [How Foxconn’s Million-Machine ‘Robot Kingdom’ Will Change the Face of Manufacturing](http://techland.time.com/2011/11/09/how-foxconns-million-machine-robot-kingdom-will-change-the-face-of-manufacturing "undefined")) This also has ramifications when it comes to people accepting and even embracing a robot presence in their homes. No one wants the Terminator walking around their kitchen. But a soft, cuddly robot that you could store in your closet? Much more appealing. ## Cost Robots have to be cost-competitive with human labor if any company hopes to sell them on a large scale. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary for a housekeeper last year was $21,150\. Willow Garage’s PR2, which one UC Berkeley professor programmed to [fold laundry](http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/science-scope/meet-the-designer-behind-the-laundry-folding-robot/8103 "undefined"), sells to researchers for $400,000.  May 23, 2014 ntttnttt1\. The Algorithm MethodWhen you search, it decides what you’ll find. It tells you what to read and what to watch on TV. When you’re ready to settle down, it finds you a match. (If you’re not careful, it will even try to point you to the day’s most fascinating news). It is the algorithm. And it’s playing an increasingly important role in your life. Here’s a look at the 10 algorithms that dominate our world.+ The computers are taking over. But at least they can make a decent BBQ sauce.2\. Death ValleyWith lethal injection drugs in scarce supply, states are looking for other means to execute their executions. Tennessee is bringing back the electric chair. Not to be outdone, Wyoming is considering firing squads.3\. Weekend Reads“We were sitting at the kitchen table. I was having some coffee, and he said he had something important to tell me. He said he had a second job as a part-time bank robber. The way he looked at me, I knew he wasn’t kidding.” In Texas Monthly, Skip Hollandsworth shares the story of a dad who robbed banks, with his family. (My kids would only come with me on a bank robbery if I agreed to bring the iPad.)+ “About 2½ hours into their six-hour climb to Camp 2, the sun had come up and Kaji’s group was nearing the top of the icefall. Kaji could see Sherpas from various expeditions strung out along the route above and below him. Then he heard an enormous crack, ‘like thunder.'” The Wall Street Journal has a detailed, interactive piece on Sherpas, Fate and the Dangerous Business of Everest.+ “Facebook and WhatsApp, Uber and Nest, the brightest minds of a generation, the high test-scorers and mathematically inclined, have taken the knowledge acquired at our most august institutions and applied themselves to solving increasingly minor First World problems.” From NY Mag’s Jessica Pressler: Let’s, Like, Demolish Laundry.+ The Atlantic: The bike-helmet law that helped trigger an insurgency in Nigeria+ Lauren Morelli: While writing for Orange Is the New Black, I realized I am gay.+ Once those pieces have you warmed up, you can move on to Conor Friedersdorf’s list of slightly more than 100 fantastic pieces of journalism.4\. Blasphemy Not IncludedTwitter has agreed to block so-called blasphemous tweets in Pakistan. The company “argues that it is a lesser evil to block specific tweets that might violate local laws than to have the entire site blocked in certain countries.” That argument might sound like blasphemy to some people.5\. It’s in Your MindStress can affect your health. So it makes sense that extreme stress or mental illness would take any even greater toll on your physical well-being. A recent study found that mental disorders can reduce your life expectancy even more than smoking 20 cigarettes a day.+ NYT Magazine: Can PTSD be more effectively treated if you start by treating the body?6\. Famous Last Words“I looked at him and said one more time, ‘Who shot you?’ He looked at me and he took a breath to get the words out, and he opened his mouth, and I thought I was actually going to get some cooperation. And then the words came out: ‘Fuck you.'” Sean DeFrank on the last words of Tupac Shakur.7\. Making Out Like a Bandit“I suspect my daughter, years from now, will still be getting checks.” That’s one of the actors from Shawshank Redemption describing the movie’s life sentence of residual checks. It’s rated the best movie ever by IMDB users and it’s basically always on TV. The WSJ’s Russell Adams explains how one of Hollywood’s great second acts keeps making money.+ Five movies that dominate television.+ Related: Morgan Freeman on Helium.8\. Are You Cool?Can one really describe what makes someone cool? A couple of researchers gave it a shot and came up with this definition: “Coolness is a subjective, positive trait perceived in people, brands, products, and trends that are autonomous in an appropriate way.”+ Do you have an ironic mustache and like drinking beverages out of mason jars? Sorry, these Slurpee cups just ended your cool forever.9\. The Review WhispererNo one brings out inspired writing from movie reviewers quite like Adam Sandler. Here’s A.O. Scott: “Blended has the look and pacing of a three-camera sitcom filmed by a bunch of eighth graders and conceived by their less bright classmates. Shots don’t match. Jokes misfire. Gags that are visible from a mile away fail to deliver.” And here’s Richard Brody in his review, Blended is a Failure for the Ages: “The romance is sweet and even effervescent, the comedy is homespun and sentimental, but it’s packaged with such a repellent batch of stereotypes and prejudices that it’s unpalatable even to contemplate.”10\. The Bottom of the NewsLooking to get your favorite band to play at an upcoming event? Pricenomics has been kind enough to put together a rough-estimate rate card so you’ll know how much it might cost you. My parents actually tried to book Barry Manilow for my bar mitzvah. Alas, he was booked. (Thankfully, so was Macklemore…)+ Someone in Palo Alto would like their missing drone back.+ What the hell is the whole nine yards?+ Whoever came up with the idea for celebrities reading mean tweets about themselves should receive a Nobel prize.ntttnttt Let’s say in the future they could drastically improve its capabilities and keep it at the same price point. You’d still have to own the robot for nearly 20 years before you could justify its cost compared to a housekeeper’s annual wage, not counting any maintenance or updates that might be required. nextpage ## The Future? We may never have the equivalent of Rosie the Robot in our lives, both because such a robot would be incredibly complicated and expensive and because, quite frankly, we might have no need for it. “The idea that a humanoid robot with arms would push a vacuum cleaner is an image that has set many expectations and, in some ways, has set back the industry,” says Colin Angle, CEO of iRobot. The man knows a thing or two about robots, considering the Roomba has sold more than 6 million units worldwide, making it by far the most widely adopted domestic robot ever invented. “I get frustrated with the ‘great demo’ that has no economic value,” he says. “I am a vigorous proponent and champion of growing the robot industry. What we need to do is solve problems people are willing to pay for at a price point lower than what they were initially willing to pay. And that’s actually really, really hard.” Robots like ASIMO and Boston Dynamics’ PETMAN look really cool but, honestly, who really needs something like that in their home? A $300 disc that can vacuum your floor by itself is pretty amazing when you stop and think about it. The future is much more likely to be a bunch of simple, inexpensive robots performing different household tasks than a single, wisecracking robot maid that will do everything. It might not be Rosie, but look at it this way–at least you won’t have to do any housework. **MORE:** [Top 10 Man-vs.-Machine Moments](http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2049187%5F2049195%5F2049261,00.html "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7238013/wheres-our-rosie-why-we-dont-have-domestic-robots-yet/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7238013/wheres-our-rosie-why-we-dont-have-domestic-robots-yet/"},"headline":"Where's Our Rosie? Why We Don't Have Domestic Robots Yet","datePublished":"2011-12-21T09:55:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T10:50:09.252Z","description":"On The Jetsons, Rosie was the robot maid with a heart of silicon and the voice of an aging cocktail waitress. 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