‘Robots Figure Prominently in Many of the Ideas’

Front-page NYT story by Claire Cain Miller and Nick Bilton on Google’s secret “Google X” lab:

Fleets of robots could assist Google with collecting information, replacing the humans that photograph streets for Google Maps, say people with knowledge of Google X. Robots born in the lab could be destined for homes and offices, where they could assist with mundane tasks or allow people to work remotely, they say.

That’s what we need to allow for a remote workforce. Robots.

Among the items that could be connected: a garden planter (so it could be watered from afar); a coffee pot (so it could be set to brew remotely); or a light bulb (so it could be turned off remotely). Google said in May that by the end of this year another team planned to introduce a Web-connected light bulb that could communicate wirelessly with Android devices.

Why was this story on the front page of The Times?

★ Monday, 14 November 2011