Friday, July 6, 2007

Closer Than We Think! Robot Housemaid (1959)


This Closer Than We Think! strip ran in the September 13, 1959 Chicago Tribune. Unlike Rosie the Robot, this robotic housemaid floats on a cushion of air.

The last paragraph describing, "a device to take food automatically from storage and cook it on a preset schedule," sounds very similar to the food preparation system in the 1967 film, "1999 A.D."


There'll be no servant problem in your home of the future. Instead, employ a robot - to cook, set the table, clear it off, wash the dishes and put them away.

A firm of industrial designers, Sundberg, Ferar, Inc., has already projected an idea for such a "mechanical maid." A self-propelled serving cart would move linen, glasses, china and silver to the table. After dinner, it would wash them and store them away.

Meanwhile, Westinghouse is researching a device to take food automatically from storage and cook it on a preset schedule. All milady would have to do is preset her menu and table arrangements each morning.

See also:
1999 A.D. (1967)
Call a Serviceman (Chicago Tribune, 1959)
Monsanto House of the Future (1957-1967)
Closer Than We Think! (1958-1963)

6 comments:

Steve Muhlberger said...

Have a look at the cover of July's Nature on the multiverse:

http://www.nature.com/nature/focus/arts/sciencefiction/index.html

Salo said...

Is it just me, or is the mother only clad in that apron? She doesn't seem to have a shirt on, and I would not put money on trousers either.

And she's apparently serving her child. How nice.

Anonymous said...

All-seeing TV eyes *and* half-nekkid housewives?!?! The future is looking great!

Berni said...

Sounds great and one wouldn't have to clean house before they came, so unjudgemental or would they keep my bad housekeeping habits in a database?

artbot said...

Wow, in the future all housewives dress as sexy maids. Cool!

Someday I would like to see a movie where they include all the PF-tastic objects, only have them be totally realistic. Every house has a helicopter, or a hovering robot maid, or whatever, but they have to include the actual noise/wind/smoke/spillage/whatever from that object. It's clear most of these ideas were thought up by illustrators or ad people and not scientists/engineers.

Anonymous said...

Is it me, or does the robot maid look vaguely like a Dalek?