Domestic robots will cook, clean – and expect a wage

ROBOTS will replace domestic cleaners by 2050, the computer scientist who foresaw the text message has predicted.

According to Dr Ian Pearson, a fellow of the British Computer Society, artificial intelligence will be commonplace in our homes within 30 years and will even have rights, meaning that, like humans, they must be paid for their work.

Dr Pearson, previously famed for predicting the invention of the text message, was commissioned by online electronics shop Ao.com to look into the future of home appliances and robots.

He said that the average person will have drones that clean our homes, “customisable” home decor – which we can change with the flick of a switch – and robot chefs.

Dr Pearson said that as AI develops, robots will “become commonplace” and that central heating will become a thing of the past as “smart heating” takes over – where humans themselves are “kept warm” by “directed infrared beams” that adjust body temperatures.

He also predicts that by 2075, 3D printers will make food.

Speaking this week, Dr Pearson, a futurologist at Futurizon, said: “By 2030, most appliances will be networked. Ovens and microwaves will talk to food packaging to get cooking instructions, as well as displaying augmented reality cooking guides for humans.