The new world of robots | Letters to the Editor

Let’s look at the details of the Tesla bot by reporting some facts and then opinions. Elon Musk gave some of the facts in a YouTube video called “Elon Musk REVEALS Tesla Bot (Full Presentation).” First the Tesla robot has a black shiny screen with no eyes and is meant to receive commands from humans. The rest of the robot has a very humanoid form, standing about 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing 125 pounds with a carrying weight of 45 pounds. It has arms and legs and a head that looks relatively human.

Elon Musk states that the robot will be “friendly” and that most people will be able to overpower it. The robot is also equipped with eight cameras for auto pilot movements. It also has the ability to learn. Though Elon Musk does state that it will be mostly for dangerous jobs, most likely it will be used for restaurant jobs.

In my opinion this will be a bad solution for the economy, as removing jobs might make families who depend on restaurant work go bankrupt and will cause many financial problems. Another problem about using robots in restaurants could be that it can destroy cultures such as in Japan where being ambidextrous is a big thing. It can affect that culture by taking over sushi restaurants because it is very useful for chefs to be ambidextrous because of all the cutting in the process of cooking sushi. Cutting up food can be a dangerous job for humans, but robots won’t consider this dangerous as they are made out of steel and can’t accidentally cut themselves. This could remove the reason to be ambidextrous.

On the other hand, the Astro or Amazon robot is designed for household purposes. These facts were found on a website called The Verge, in an article by Dan Seifert called “Say Hello to Astro, Alexa on Wheels.” The Astro can investigate if an unknown human walks inside your house and it delivers a live feed video to the owner of the robot through an app. The robot also has helpful calling abilities, as it can be used as a phone for Facetime. Astro can also be just like Alexa, Amazon’s other household robot, as Astro can answer questions and play music. Astro’s black screen also has the ability to show you the weather and act as a face for Astro.

Astro has three wheels and is equipped with an extendable camera that can adjust for video calls. This cute and useful robot seems more practical for households than the Tesla bot, which is more of a factory bot, so the Astro robot is my choice to purchase.

In conclusion, this is how the reality of robots has come true. As seen in movies, robots will play a role in factories, houses, and restaurants. So ready or not, the future of robots is here and soon they will become part of human life — just make sure you choose the best bot for yours.

6th Grade Journalism Class

Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School, St. Helena