So this year's CES seems to show that the future from "Wall-E" looks like it's
just around the corner. If tech companies are right, then in a few years we're all
gonna be talking to our fridges and having the servant robots wait on us
hand and foot and we're never gonna talk to another human ever again. Welcome back
to What's Trending, I'm Grant Pardee. So we're in a place where technology has
made our lives so easy that I think the tech companies don't really know what to
do next. The only way for technology to innovate further is to just live our
lives for us. That's right. I'm not only predicting that the robot takeover is at
hand I'm saying that it's already happened. In fact I myself am an advanced
AI robot sent from the future back in time to host YouTube videos. That's how
pointless tech has become. Yeah, bro. Siri, Alexa... they're my great grandparents. And this
balancing robot, that's my papa. I feel like you can see the resemblance
in the face. You know how pizza delivery is a total pain in the ass? Well it isn't
but Pizza Hut and Toyota are nevertheless teaming up to eliminate the
hassle of exchanging two to three sentences with your delivery driver by
unveiling their state-of-the-art driverless delivery vehicle.
I mean credit to Pizza Hut for looking at their company and saying all right we
need to improve something. Should we make our food less garbage or
should we take the soul out of delivery? If this sounds a little bit like an
episode of Black Mirror to you you're not alone. The Netflix tech horror show
retweeted Pizza Hut's announcement with the caption: "We know how this goes."
Finding the right balance between helpful and completely unnecessary seems
to be the theme at this year's CES. For example, FoldiMate is a $1,000 robot
that can kind of fold your laundry for you. And I say kind of because by most
reports it doesn't work for pretty much anything except like towels. And like for
me as someone that does spend money on stupid sh*t,
I don't like laundry. Like I... it's my least favorite chore, but the most fun
part of laundry is the folding part. Like low-key matching the little socks together
is fun. I don't mind it. It's okay. Meanwhile Samsung and LG are both really
leaning into their smart refrigerators adding more AI and voice controls to the
products. So I feel like we're getting a glimpse into like the inner lives of the
engineers that are developing these products, you know? Like I imagine it's
like a rainy, lonely Friday night and the engineers
like I guess I'll order a pizza, but then I'll have to see another human
person. I wish I could just talk to you, fridge. You're my only friend,
refrigerator. What Samsung wants is for your fridge to act as the centralized
hub for all of your smart devices. So you'd be able to use voice commands to
say dim the lights in another room without the hassle of touching the light
switch. The built-in tablet can also play music, share calendars, show photos, and do
other tablet-y things, but now on a fridge. I feel like maybe I'm coming
across like a cranky old man here. Like back in my day we wrote sticky notes
and we put it on the fridge! Sometimes they were helpful. Most of the times they
were passive-aggressive, but we liked it. We like to do it and we all had fun
doing it. Is that how old people talk? I don't think it is. LG's smart fridge
showed how it's AI software could communicate with your smart oven and
other smart appliances. So if you wanted to have chicken for dinner it could
conjure up some recipes and then preheat the oven. Or if you have a gym workout on
your calendar then it would know to prepare the washing machine. The idea is
that these devices would eventually learn your habits and anticipate your
needs like a stalker that you bought from Amazon. In other words what they're
doing is they're kind of expanding on the thing from previous models of smart
fridges where they would know when you're low on a certain item and then
automatically order those groceries for you. But hold up a second. Let's go back
to that previous image. Yeah. Enhance. Enhance. Who is this mother f*cker? Was
he here the whole time? Yeah, man. It's companion robots. They're here or
close to here. This is CLOi, a small robot that companies like LG hope will
become an integral part of your home routine. The only problem right now is
they don't work. During the tech demonstration, CLOi was almost entirely
uncooperative. LG speaker David VanderWaal repeatedly attempted to show off
CLOi's voice recognition, but the robot turned him down and ignored him every
time. It's like the robot was like: "Nah, man. I'm not gonna do your laundry. You do
your laundry. I'm a robot. I'm gonna sit here and make googly love eyes with that
toaster over there."
Don't use any of those, Mitch. Those
were bad. I left 'em in.
And LG sees these robots
becoming your sidekicks outside the home too. They believe the company's future is
in the development of their artificial intelligence and claimed to have
successfully tested robots that can wield food to humans, carry luggage at
the airport, and even go with them to the grocery
store to help select products they've already chosen on an app, which kind of
seems like we could cut out the middleman on that one, right? Like why
doesn't the robot team up with the Pizza Hut driver so I don't have to go to the
grocery store at all? LG said their long-term plan is for these robots to
develop the capacity for emotional interaction, which once again just seems
to be like a cry for help from the developers. Dudes, if you need a friend
just... I don't know. Reach out, man. Like we can chat I guess. I don't know. I don't
feel like you need to be creating the Terminator future just because no one
wants to hang out with you. Aeolus was another robot on display at
CES which is more along the lines of the robot made from The Jetsons. Aeolus has
gripper arms that can be adjusted for different tasks like bringing you a
beverage, or picking up clothes off the floor.
Eventually the Aeolus developers imagine the robot able to operate the microwave
and the dishwasher, which if you've ever wanted to see a robot get electrocuted,
just wait for Aeolus I guess. The goal is to have the first version of Aeolus
available for purchase before the end of 2018 likely retailing for several
thousand dollars. Now there is no mention of whether or not you can have sex with
these robots, but they're all thinking it. You know they are. We have sex robots. Now
we've got these robots. I'm telling you. It's... we're one or two years away from
CES being like alright guys we've figured it out. This is a robot that's a
fridge that knows what you want, it's also your best friend, it can bring
pizzas to you without you ever having to look another person in the eye, and the
best part, you can f*ck it. But I don't know. I'm dumb as hell. We want to know what you
guys think. Let us know in the COMMENTS below. Do you think this is a good
development? Are we seeing the kind of technology that we need? Or are these
companies overvaluing AI robots, smart-home integration, and they're just
trying to do buzzy things that'll make dopes like me make videos for them?
Let us know, COMMENT below, and for more stories go to whatstrending.com.