One of the things about being a Futurist, is the FUN of seeing predictions come true. Just yesterday I was in the San Jose (“Silicon Valley”) airport, and I saw a robot assisting people. What the robot actually DID was pretty underwhelming, but the fact that the robot WORKS at the airport is the point. It reminded me of my first interaction with a computer: a DOS prompt. The interface was pretty underwhelming then but pretty impressive now.
This airport robot below simply offered directions and incentives to go to certain stores who probably paid for the robot to exist. This is a LONG way from robots assisting clients in a veterinary practice, but I can now see it from here.
This robot didn’t give me her name and that introduces the question: How should robots be identified and addressed?
Rolan
