Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

A social robot is the last in a long line of attempts at building a digital assistant. Maybe we should just hire people to be personal assistants?

I stumbled across this little “social robot.” It talks to you when you talk to it. It makes phone calls for you. It takes pictures for you. It keeps your calendar for you. Isn’t it wonderful? Maybe it is wonderful. I’ve never seen one in person or used one.

It is, however, not a new idea. It is yet another attempt at the digital assistant. That magic thing that helps you do all the things that you do or want to do.

At work, the digital assistant will do something when I say:

• Arrange a meeting of all the people interested in project ABC.
• Collate all my notes from last week into a report.
• Categorize that pile of receipts on my desk.
• Find John Jones and get him in my office right now.

At home, the digital assistant will do something when I say:

• Find out what three-year-old girls want for their birthday and order one for my granddaughter.
• See what’s in the fridge and what dish can I make of it.
• Tell everyone on the soccer team that practice is cancelled today.
• See if I have enough clean clothes for the week.

Is the new social robot in the above link the answer? I doubt it. Perhaps it is a step closer.

And here is a new idea:

Instead of digital assistants, how about we hire all the unemployed as personal assistants?