Household help

Science World, Jan 24, 2005 by Mona Chiang

Tired of doing chores? Help may be on the way. According to a 2004 United Nations survey, an increasing number of robots are taking over housework. Today, about 607,000 "smart machines" are helping out around homes worldwide, and the number is predicted to soar to 4.1 million by 2007.

Most of today's household robots can do only simple tasks such as vacuuming and lawn mowing. But in the future, robots may be able to take on increasingly complex tasks--perhaps even becoming assistants for disabled people, says C. S. George Lee, an engineering professor at Purdue University. "As technology gets better, we can capture more human skills in the robot and increase its intelligence level," he says.

According to the graph (below), about how many more vacuuming robots will exist in 2007 compared with 2004?

EASY LIVING: Robots do housework on the cartoon The Jetsons.