A Humanoid Robot Cleans Homes in San Francisco
Exercise 1
Vocabulary
Repeat each word, its meaning and the example sentence out loud.
humanoid
adjective/ˈhjuːmənɔɪd/shaped like a human or having human qualities
Our company is developing humanoid robots that can work in offices.
autonomous
adjective/ɔːˈtɒnəməs/able to work and make decisions without help from other people
Our goal is to create autonomous systems that do not need constant human control.
remote
adjective/rɪˈmoʊt/controlled from far away, usually through internet or radio signals
The pilot can control the robot remotely from our headquarters in California.
beta
noun/ˈbeɪtə/an early or test version of a product before it is finished and ready to sell to everyone
We released our new software in beta so we could fix problems before the final launch.
data
noun/ˈdeɪtə/information and facts that computers collect and use to learn and improve
The machine learning model uses data from thousands of customer interactions to make better decisions.
Exercise 2
Article
Read the article aloud on your own, or listen to it first.
A Humanoid Robot Cleans Homes in San Francisco
Highlight any word to see what it means and translate it.
A startup called Tau Robotics is sending small humanoid robots to clean homes in San Francisco.
The robots are about four and a half feet tall. They have 3D-printed heads with antennae for communication and claw hands designed for cleaning tasks.
They wear special grippy socks to protect hardwood floors.
Right now, the robots are not fully independent. Human operators at Tau's headquarters watch cameras on the robots' heads and wrists.
They control the robots remotely using internet connections. This is similar to how someone might drive a radio-controlled car.
Tau charges between $30 and $100 per cleaning session, depending on the service. This lower price is possible because the data the robots collect is very valuable to the company.
As the robots clean, they gather information about how to perform cleaning tasks. Tau uses this data to train artificial intelligence models.
The goal is to make robots that can clean without human guidance in the future.
Some tasks already work well without help. The robots can vacuum and mop by themselves.
However, other tasks like folding laundry still need human operators to guide them. For these tasks, a human performs the movements, and sensors copy those movements to the robot.
This method produces very useful training data.
The robots face real challenges. They struggle with stairs because of signal delay between the headquarters and the robot.
Hot weather can cause problems with the operator's equipment. Carpeted stairs and other obstacles sometimes require human help.
Tau's cofounder says the company wants to solve an important problem: cleaning jobs have high turnover and high risk of injury. However, if robots become truly independent and cheaper, people who work in cleaning might lose their jobs.
This raises important questions about employment and AI in the future.
Exercise 3
Discussion
Have a discussion based on the following questions.
- 1.In your workplace, do you think robots could help with tasks that are dangerous or difficult for people? What would change?
- 2.What information worries you most about robots collecting data from your home or office?
- 3.Do you think it is ethical for companies to charge less money when customers understand the company is collecting data about them?
- 4.How do you think we should help workers whose jobs might disappear because of robots and artificial intelligence?
- 5.Would you pay for a robotic cleaning service if it was affordable and worked well in your home? Why or why not?
Exercise 4
Further discussion
Have a discussion based on the following questions.
- 1.How do technology companies decide which tasks are most important for robots to learn first?
- 2.What skills do workers need to stay employed as more robots do physical work?
- 3.How should governments prepare for a future with more autonomous robots and fewer jobs in cleaning and similar work?
- 4.What are the differences between using robots for cleaning in homes versus using them in factories or offices?
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This lesson is our own retelling, for English learners, of a story from MIT Technology Review.