As civilization proceeds in the direction of technology, it passes the point of supplying all the basic essentials of life-food, shelter, clothes and warmth. Then we are faced with a choice between using technology to provide and fulfill needs which have now been regarded as unnecessary or, on the other hand, using technology to reduce the number of hours of work which a man must do in order to earn a given standard of living. In other words, we either raise our standard of living above that necessary forcomfort and happiness or we leave it at this level and work shorter hours.
I shall take it for granted that mankind has, by that time, chosen the latter alternative. Men will be working shorter and shorter hours in their paid employment. It follows that the housewife will also expect to be able to have more leisure in her life without lowering her standard of living. It also follows that human domestic servants will have completely ceased to exist. Yet the great majority of the housewives will wish to be relieved completely from the routine operations of the home such as scrubbing the floors or the bath of the cooker, or washing the clothes or washing up, or dusting or sweeping, or making beds.
By far the most logical step to relieve the housewife of routine is to provide a robot which can be trained to the requirements of a particular home and can be programmed to carry out half a dozen or
more standard operations, when switched by the housewife.
