I recall thinking then that when I was grown up Rosie would be the real deal, and now all we really seem to have for robotic help in the house is that bizarre “Roomba”—the iRobot cleaning device that sounds as if it’s going to pick up dust to the percussive rhythms of a sexy Cuban dancer, but instead ends up getting in the way (“…last night we ended up in the hospital because Nana tripped on THAT Roomba.”).

So here’s another Roomba for ya. This one is a built in caregiver. Called the uBot-5, this caregiver robot can carry out basic tasks while it looks over the home environment. A few cool things that uBot-5 can do:
• Understand if someone has fallen down and call 911 if necessary
• Connect a loved one at a distance into an aging person’s home through a video Internet hook up
• Enable “authorized users” to “jump into” it and guide it (e.g. your doctor can now make a true house call remotely)
• Pick up a pill bottle off the floor, or other package in the 2.2. pound range.

Apparently its design was inspired by the human body and it has sensors that mirror human eyes and ears, able to deftly scan its surroundings like a night owl. While the price is a whopping $65,000 a Bot today, co-inventor Rod Grupen, who directs the Laboratory for Perpetual Robotics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, predicts that eventually uBot-5s will go for about $5,000 with a monthly Internet fee.

So, if you are caring for an older parent at a distance..here’s a rosy outlook for you…eventually there may be robotic relief in site.

Amanda Sobanet