The delivery on the promise of domestic robots is long overdue. Just why has this happened? One reason is that there have been some problems that still need to be solved.

Possible solution: Learn from nature. there are simple creature like insects in nature that can navigate very well without any form of technology like satellites or computers. Scientists should try to adapt their techniques to new robotic technology. One example is the ant. It lays trail of pheromones for other ants to follow. An electronic 'nose' could be invented that could detect heavy organic moecules. These could be added to cleaning detergents allowing a robot to sense which part of the floor had been cleaned and what needed to be cleaned.

Possible solution: Develop micro fuel cells that are low cost and increase the power-to-weight ratio over batteries of today. You could convert liquid hydrocarbon directly into electricity using a miniature gas turbine electric generator about the size of a matchbox. Burn a tiny stream of kerosene at high temperatures to drive the generator.

Possible solution: KISS Make the robot simple and not so complex. Study the natural biological solutions to survival and work problems and then adapt these to simiple electronic/mechanical systems. Look at insects and animals to see how they solve prolems and then copy this in a future robot.

Possible solution: Make smaller, less powerful robots and use several of them to complete a task. Insects also do a lot of work even though they are very small. They work in a collective. Robots of the future could do the same. They could be very small but work together to perform a task. Small robots would be less threatening and safer.

Possible solution: Change the design. Make small robots that are simple to do a particular task and combine them with other small robots to do another task. That way the robots could be cheaper and if one of them broke down, you would still have many more to compete the task. Use microprocessors that are old, not state-of-the-art. NASA's been doing that for years. They only send proven technolgoy to Mars. And to be proven it has to have been used for a while, so it's not the newest, latest, and the greatest. But this will make the robots cheaper. Instead of using exensive sensors find away to detect what you need to without them. For example, why give a floor cleaning bot a fancy camera system when you could just measure the drag on its wheels to determine where it has already sprayed.

One of the challenges to making a robot is the development of the software. If the robot is in a dynamic changing environment that the software has to become more complex and will require a fast large computer. For a househould robot this is true. The environment in the multitude of different houses and the fact that humans live there make it so. People mess things up and put things where they're not suppose to be. So one of the ways that we could get to the future of household robotics is to redesign how our houses are built and how robots could interact with them.

New houses in the future could be built with a three dimensional architectural plan stored in computer chips in the walls. A robot could interact with a station in each room and download the plan of the room. This would give the robot the ability to know the dimensions and structure of each room in the house. Under the floors could be a grid that is sensitive to weight. Then when an object is moved in the room or a new object is placed in the room on the floor the grid would sense it and relay this information to the robot through the interface at the station. Objects in the house could come with tags that the robot could find and read. It could be like the tags we have on pillows now that give the consumer information about the product. These tags could be small almost invisible to human eyes, but be detected by robots. They could contain the structue, dimensions, and use for the object.

The common closet and kitchen cupboards could be redesigned to be easily accesed not by humans but by robots. They might be places lower to the ground and without the customary doors. Sliding doors that could be activated electronically by a robot would be better. Information could be contain in the door and transmitted to the robot when ever they were near.

One of the biggest hurdles that has to be overcome is the skepticism that people have about what robots are and what they can become in the future. Many people feel that the cost of the development of such technologies is too high for the end result. Others are afraid that the technology will become too powerful. Our society already depends on technology to a point where people cannot survive in a disaster that takes away the technology. Water, food, gas, and necessities of life are all dependent upon technology. There is also the issue of sustaining a society that depends so heavily on technology. When the electric power goes out, people can't go to the store and buy food, water, etc,. you can't pump gas, or heat/cool a house. But, there are many possiblitites where robots can make a real differnce in the quality of life of people.