Robots in Our Daily Lives: From Smart Libraries to Sweeping Robots

　　I discovered by chance that the library has a new smart library. This is a novel thing. You can select and borrow books anytime and anywhere through a mobile app. The books will then be sorted by machines and delivered to designated lending cabinets, eliminating the need for borrowers to search for needles in a haystack in the library. Although I have not experienced it personally, I can basically imagine that this is a typical application scenario of intelligent robots. I couldn’t help but express my regrets to my wife: “You originally wanted to find a job in the library when you have free time so that you can borrow and read books. Unexpectedly, now that robots have arrived, I’m afraid that the position suitable for you will be taken away.” My wife has been in the past few years
　　. I accompany my children to school full-time and study in my spare time. My interest in reading is getting stronger and stronger. Sure enough, studying makes people smart, and she has obviously become far-sighted: “In the future, children should be careful when choosing majors for the college entrance examination. After graduating from some majors, the corresponding positions can easily be replaced by robots.” This is indeed true
　　. Last year, AI painting and AI composition emerged. This year, ChatGPT became very popular. Domestic intelligent human-machine dialogue products have also been launched one after another. If this continues, won’t robots armed with artificial intelligence soon be commonplace in daily life? Just like when I stayed in a hotel during the recent long vacation, I found that the guest room has an intelligent voice system. When you say “turn on the lights”, the lights will actually turn on. You can also specify to turn on the bedside lamp or the mirror light separately. That night, there was a lot of laughter in our room, and the music, lights, and curtains in various parts were all controlled with verbal commands several times in turn.
　　Nowadays, voice robots are the most common services provided, and it is estimated that many people have been received by them without knowing it. For example, many of the customer service calls of large companies are answered first by robots. If the problem cannot be solved, the call will be transferred to human customer service. The automatic answering robot I interact with the most is always on my commonly used banking mobile app. It is on call 24/7 and has a particularly good service attitude. Of course, these voice robots in the service industry also have shortcomings, that is, they are too serious and never want to chat. I once said to them: “I don’t have a problem, I’m just bored, so come here and have a chat.” They were a little dumbfounded and just kept asking me stupidly what I wanted to know or what difficulties I encountered. It’s a shame, they wish they had more humor.
　　I remember when mobile phones first became popular, not only were there charges in both directions, but the call charges were also very expensive. Few people used their mobile phones to chat. We were in our youth at that time. During night chats in the dormitory, some bold classmates would call the toll-free customer service number of the communication company and chat with the service staff. The other party was too embarrassed to hang up immediately. There was a popular saying when online chatting just started: you never know whether there is a person or a dog on the other end of the network. Now, you don’t even need a dog on the other end of the network. The chatbot will solve your problem directly on the server.
　　Perhaps the robot responsible for answering questions is just the most old-fashioned kind, and the more interesting robots do not need to answer questions. For example, I saw a video on the Internet the other day. A robot in the lobby of a northern bank shouted through the window: “President Zhou came out to authorize the sisters.” This scene made everyone very happy. I also encountered it once in a certain building. A half-human-tall robot was sliding around on the floor. I tried to click on its screen to see what menu options were available, but it turned out to be very alarmed and said loudly: “I It’s a sweeping robot, please don’t click on me.” Good guy, it’s very experienced. It seems I’m not the only one trying to “harass” it.
　　In any case, the future is here, and robots have really entered the house. In the future, although it will be difficult for robots with artificial intelligence to replace all human workers, some jobs will undoubtedly be occupied by them. My wife said: “If those positions in the library are taken away by robots, then I will be a volunteer. Someone must be responsible for arranging the robots to do the work, right?” This made me imagine the
　　scene in the robot era. One day, in the lobby of a public place, a robot came to me and said: “Now I am here to tell you, do something that you are particularly interested in but have never had time to do. That is your The place where you can get the best sense of happiness and create miracles. As for the work you are doing now, super capable robot brothers like me can do it. Don’t worry, in the new era, you no longer have to pay for food and clothing. You have to work and worry every day. As advanced animals, it is your mission to explore the world and challenge the world’s problems.” Thinking about it, I am very excited about the true arrival of the robot era.