The purpose is comedy, haha, but the need I have is to realistically estimate when companion robots (clean) will become conversational. Some of the robots in the book are more mechanical-looking. Some more "human-like," meaning: difficult to discern from humans. It's all for the purpose of serving the story, and I can see your point about where the market is. That is helpful as I can see that if these nonsexual companionship robots come to exist, it will be well after every other area is dominated by more useful robots. Thanks!
> That is helpful as I can see that if these nonsexual companionship robots come to exist, it will be well after every other area is dominated by more useful robots.
Actually I think conversational companion robots can happen before more useful domestic servants. Elisa was from the 1960s, voice recognition is pretty good already. You can do a lot of comedy around a robot that can hold a conversation but can't find it way from the kitchen to the living room (in an open floor plan).
Laundry is actually a hard problem, and there isn't much research going into it. (it might be easier than speech, but a lot of research is going into speech)
