I Robot, You Student
© 2005 Jason Ohler
For many people, the future lasts only as long as they do. So, if you are 50 and figure you have a few decades to go, then the future begins to peter out somewhere around 2025. That’s the only explanation I have for why people still refuse to believe that one day holographic friends will be commonplace and robots that look like us will be doing our housework. If you think in terms of 20 years, it seems impossible. If you think in terms of 1000 years – a very conservative estimate of the future - it seems inevitable.
I Robot paints a picture of a time that feels inevitable. Set in Chicago in 2035, it is filled with robots that mingle quite naturally with humans. They do many of the things that we are supposedly too human to do, like collect garbage, walk the dog and deliver Fed Ex packages. The robots of course do everything faster and more efficiently than we do, without all that silly emotional stuff to get in the way. They are controlled by Asimov’s three laws of robotics, which supposedly keep humans safe. But alas, the robots revolt, try to take over the humanoids and detective Del Spooner (Will Smith) saves the day.
Will our kids take robots to school one day? Sure, if you take a long view of the future and assume that school will exist in some form. Don’t forget that if a hundred years ago someone told you that some day our kids would go to school with digital calculators you would have accused him of sorcery. What will robots do? The same things that calculators and computers do now, like remember what we can’t and crunch numbers we don’t want to. But they will also talk to our kids about their homework and protect them during recess. They will cross the line from machine to assistant…perhaps even friend.
One day personal robots will be the next must-have technology. Those without them will at first be considered quaint, then out of touch, and, ultimately, disadvantaged. One day it may just be affordable personal robots that finally ensure that no child is left behind – academically or on the playground.
‘Robotic custodian’ saves schools money
February 7th, 2012
From wire service reports
www.eschoolnews.com
Pennsylvania’s Gov. Mifflin School District is considering adding to its custodial staff, and the worker comes with an impressive resume: It’s been known to save thousands of dollars a year in custodial costs while doing a top-notch job.
But if that’s not enough, its family already has built a reputation for hard work in the Gov. Mifflin district. Relatives include the cafeteria vending machines, the copier in the high school office, and the microwave in the teachers’ lounge.
Its older brother, R2D2, is a movie star—but that’s another story.
That’s right, Gov. Mifflin is thinking of adding a robot to the custodial staff.
Picture an industrial-size Roomba. It’s a dust mop and floor scrubber all in one. And, when it’s programmed with a building’s floor plan, it reportedly will clean the floors on its own.
It’s a tool that school districts like Mifflin might turn to as they trim the size of custodial staffs to save on employee costs.
“With budget cuts and staff being cut, [schools] can essentially do more with less,” said Wendy E. Hughson, marketing director for Intellibot Robotics, the Portland, Ore.-based company that makes the Gen-X Robotic Sweeper/Scrubber.
Gov. Mifflin isn’t set on getting one of the robots yet. Administrators told the school board in January that they would solicit bids for review.
“This is going to be a tough budget year, and we have to look everywhere,” said business manager Mark R. Naylon. “Sometimes you have to spend money to save money.”
The district has the chance to cut two part-time custodian positions through attrition, Naylon said. The robot would help the remaining workers keep up with the cleaning.
It works indefinitely for a one-time paycheck, which in one school district’s case was $31,000. It does require a health-care plan for maintenance, but that costs only about $2,300 a year.
“If it can do four hours of work with one battery—a part-time person is four hours,” Naylon said.
And the robot is a model worker. It works indefinitely for a one-time paycheck, which in one school district’s case was $31,000. It does require a health-care plan for maintenance, but that costs only about $2,300 a year.
It almost never takes a sick day. But if it must, it will text or eMail its supervisor with a diagnosis of what’s wrong.
Impressive in other districts
Michelle Mulherin, a business agent with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, which represents Gov. Mifflin’s support staff, said the union has talked with the district about the robot but hasn’t learned enough to form an opinion.
The Upper Merion School District near King of Prussia, Pa., got a robot cleaner for its high school a year ago. Officials were so impressed that they bought another for the middle school.
“Whenever folks see this for the first time, it’s really exciting,” said William T. Dillon, Upper Merion’s custodial coordinator. “I know I was like, ‘wow.’ I’m still like that.”
Dillon estimates that the robot, named Dominic for a retired custodian, saves about $126,000 a year because Upper Merion was able to reduce the custodial staff through attrition.
Humans take on other tasks
Dominic cleans on a pre-programmed path and uses sonar to figure out where he is and whether obstacles are in the way. If the robot encounters an obstacle, it either goes around it or sends an eMail message to Dillon. At the end of a shift, Dominic eMails a report detailing the work it did.
Other custodians just set up the robot and go on to other work, like cleaning classrooms.
“The best part is, the custodian is doing something else instead of the floor,” Dillon said.
Part of the savings comes from using less water during cleaning. The robot recycles 15 gallons throughout its shift, unlike most scrubbers that need to be filled a few times.
That system was invented out of necessity, said Intellibot President Erick Frack.
“If you have the robot running by itself, there’s no one around to change the water, so we had to develop this filtration system,” Frack said.
Copyright (c) 2012, the Reading Eagle (Reading, Pa.). Visit the Reading Eagle online at readingeagle.com. Distributed by MCT Information Services.