Sci-fi said we’d have robot housekeepers by now. Where are they?
Also in the Inclusive Screen Weekly: Sunny Review | In-car advertising getting creepy | Live action Rugrats
Welcome (back) to The Inclusive Screen! Every Sunday, I share TV show recommendations and ten pop culture stories showcasing different perspectives.
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This Week's Rabbit Hole
Sci-fi said we’d have robot housekeepers by now. Where are they?
As I watched Sunny on Apple TV+ this week, I couldn’t help but wonder why I still have to do the laundry and scrub the bathroom floors myself. It’s 2024. Weren’t we supposed to have friendly robot housekeepers by now?
Sure, we have Roombas and those cute LA food delivery robots, but where are the all-inclusive maid robots?
After a quick Google search, I discovered I was not the only one to ask myself this very question. Here are a few of the 1st-page results:
Why Don’t We Have Robot Maids Yet? [Daily Beast] - No, it’s not the same article
Why don't we have AI-powered robot butlers yet? An investigation. [Mashable]
Where’s Our Rosie? Why We Don’t Have Domestic Robots Yet [Time]
So. Why don’t we have a robot that can do all our chores yet?
In his TED talk, Ken Goldberg says the following: “What’s hard for humans is easy for robots, but what’s easy for humans remains hard for robots.” According to all the links above, the biggest challenges to building a robot maid are physical challenges. For example, it’s very hard to build a robot hand that is as flexible as a human hand and can grab all kinds of objects. It’s also difficult for robots to navigate in a home environment with stairs, cables, pets, people moving around…
Overall, I find it fascinating that we always dreamed of creating machines to do the boring stuff, but we ended up with advanced AI that can play games and develop movies while we still need to scrub our own toilet.
That said, a study by the World Economic Forum estimates that 40% of household tasks could be automated within the next ten years. They predict that shopping will be the easiest task to automate, while child care will be the most difficult. Childcare robotics sounds very dystopian, so I hope we will still focus most of our efforts on automating chores!
Let me know your thoughts on robots in the comments! I feel most of Substack is strongly anti-AI when it comes to art. I’m really curious to see if the same applies to robots and manual tasks.
10 Stories That Caught My Attention This Week
Ever wondered what type of people comment on porn sites? [The Cut] I wasn’t sure what to expect from that article, but it was a wildly amusing read. One of the guys interviewed spends more than 30 minutes on the comments he leaves under porn videos. And here’s how he got into it, in his own words: “I had a passion for writing, but what form it would take I wasn’t sure. I could never find something that fully engaged me”. I guess he found his niche.
A study used the game 2048 to simulate illness and understand what can help people take medication more consistently [Just One More Turn via Substack]. I love seeing creative applications of games with real-life impact! In this example, the team built in-game symptoms that would mimic sickness, like blurring part of the screen. The users had to enter a code to get rid of the symptoms, which simulated the act of taking medicine in real life.
Ford patented an in-car advertising system that personalizes ads based on your destination and conversations [PC Mag]. It’s just a patent, and it doesn't mean they’ll do anything with it, but this part sounds insane: “For example, this can include listening to conversations between occupants in the vehicle,” the patent says. “The conversations can be parsed for keywords or phrases that may indicate where the occupants are traveling to.”
A company called Gushcloud is launching a new type of paid leave: Tinder leave! [Gushcloud]. I saw this news in the amazing French newsletter “Le Wrap Up de Christian” and thought it was funny. It sounds like a typical quirky startup perk idea and probably will just end up being an extra day off completely unrelated to Tinder. If they tried to enforce it, people would probably just create fake Tinder matches anyway. I know I would if it meant getting an extra day off.
While the rest of us struggle to buy real estate, millionaires are going to conventions to prepare their Gen Z kids for “the $90 trillion Great Wealth Transfer” [Fortune]. Apparently, “entrepreneurs have serious concerns that their kids might not be up to the task of taking on their business or responsibly managing their wealth.” However, they still want to keep the company and wealth within their family.
Paramount is working on a live-action adaptation of Rugrats [The Hollywood Reporter]. The Nickelodeon show was a staple of my childhood. I can’t count how many hours I spent playing the “Search for Reptar” PlayStation game with its pixelated graphics and annoying music. I’m really curious to see the casting for the live-action version.
Abbott Elementary and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia are working on a crossover episode [The Hollywood Reporter]. I love crossovers! I feel like there used to be a lot more of them on linear TV since the show release schedules could align more easily. Especially between shows with multiple spin-offs in the same universe. I’m excited to see what they do with this one.
The Ellen Netflix special is flopping hard, and people are having a lot of fun roasting it [Pedestrian]. It’s almost like you can’t come back from being outed as a terrible person when your entire brand was “be kind to one another”. I don’t think I want to give the special any more eyeballs, but what I’m getting from articles is that it’s extremely unfunny, has way too many laugh breaks, and is basically just Ellen whining about her “cancellation.”
Are weed gummies the new craft beers? [The New York Times]. This is a super interesting article on how cannabis is becoming boogie, with a ton of cannabis products being branded for an upscale market. What’s fascinating to me is that I’m not necessarily seeing the same trend where I live in the Netherlands, where cannabis has been “legal” for years. I think it has to do with the fact that it’s not actually fully legal. For example, the current legislation makes it impossible to legally sell weed gummies, from what I understand, so the edible market is much more limited.
And the ad of the week goes to… Crocs for referencing the classic “Shoes” viral video in their new promo [Crocs via Tiktok]. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the original video, you can see it here. Crocs partnered with the original creator for their ad, and I think they could have done more, but it’s still iconic.
What I’ve Been Watching
Sunny
My Rating: 82/100
Where to watch: Apple TV+
1 sentence synopsis: Snarky woman fights Yakuzas with her lesbian sidekick and the sassy robot gifted to her by her dead husband
A funny social media review:
Diverse representation:
Sunny is a show that features strong and complex female characters front and center. Even Sunny (the robot) has a lot of depth and has one of the deepest character arcs in the series.
The show is set in Japan, and everyone is Japanese except for Suzie, the lead character, played by Rachida Jones. Some characters speak English with her, but what I found clever was the use of translation technology to have other characters speak Japanese without it being an issue. After all, if a show has advanced housekeeping robots, it can also have advanced translation technology! I can’t comment much on the cultural Japanese elements featured in the show, but the language aspect was handled really well, in my opinion. It’s nice to see Japanese shows having a moment this year!
Finally, I can’t complete this review without mentioning Mixxy. Mixxy and Suzie randomly (or not?) meet in a bar where Suzie used to go with her husband, and Mixxy just started bartending. They become friends incredibly fast - I’m guessing mostly because Suzie has no friends despite being in Japan for years with her husband and son. Mixxy mentions she has an ex-girlfriend in the first scene, but her queerness isn’t really addressed after that. I'll just say I’m super happy to see queer representation in a show set in Japan, but I have mixed feelings about Mixxy’s character after the ending. I hope it gets a season 2 to clear things out.
Favorite character:
Sunny: For the entire show, we wonder if Sunny is a good or bad robot. In the end, I would say she was programmed for good. The show doesn’t go super deep into philosophical questions, but the message about robots and technology is optimistic. Sunny’s character really won me over when she rescued a little baby bird despite Suzie telling her not to.
Least favorite character:
Hime: She’s the villain of the show and leader of the Yakuza group, trying to go after Suzie and Sunny. She lacked depth for me, and I found the way she spoke really annoying. It looked like the writers tried to give her a storyline about family inheritance at some point, but it was way too rushed.
My Top 10 Favorite New Shows of 2024:
I’m tracking all new shows on streaming this year and rating the ones I’ve seen. Here’s my top 10 for the year so far! No changes this week but a few ongoing shows are scoring high so far so will probably make it to the top 10 soon…
Fallout - Score: 96
Dead Boy Detectives - Score: 92
Under the Bridge - Score: 91
Baby Reindeer - Score: 90
Chimp Crazy - Score: 89
3 Body Problem - Score: 89
The Brothers Sun - Score: 88
The Decameron - Score: 86
Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter - Score: 86
Death and Other Details - Score: 85
Freshly Out Shows I Can’t Wait To Watch
[Hulu] The Last Days of the Space Age. I honestly don’t understand the story based on the trailer, but I like the retro Australian vibes
[Apple TV+] Where's Wanda?. I have not been disappointed by dark comedies from Australia so far, so I’ll definitely give this one a try.
[Max] The Franchise. A workplace comedy following the making of a superhero movie. Say no more! Are comedies back? There have been a lot of new comedy shows lately, and I’m here for it.
I’m done rambling. Now it’s your turn!
Can you name all the Robots in the cover pic of this post?
Would you buy a housekeeper robot (if it was affordable)?
What do you think of the Ford in-car advertising patent?
Did you watch the Ellen special on Netflix? Do you agree with the general sentiment that it sucks?
Are you excited for the Rugrats live-action adaptation?
Have you seen Sunny? What did you think of the ending?
As always, thanks for reading, and see you next Sunday!