Able Mabel: The Worst "Robot" Ever

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With all this modern talk of robots and the AI, I figure it’s a good time to go back and look at some of the predictions for the future that never quite worked out.
Or maybe I’m just doing this because I like robots. Beep boop.
Either way, this particular “machine” was created by Meredith Thring and, while it certainly paints an interesting picture of the future, it’s clear that not everything in this box, was, well, in this box.
Worst robot ever? That’s up for you to decide.
Personally, I really like her.

[@knowledgehusk]

Play War Thunder now with my link, and get a massive, free bonus pack including vehicles, boosters and more: playwt.link/knowledgehusk

[@consumeobama5770]

Wart hunter

[@aiden8794]

Tar Whunder

[@rocko7711]

😂

[@infinitelybanta]

Worf Bunter

[@metodoinstinto]

Andy Warhol Thunda

[@AE86FTS]

We have realized that it's more efficient to just turn the vacuum into a robot

[@tylerboothman4496]

And here I've been trying to turn my robot into a vacuum!

[@harrylion6689]

Dishwasher, washing machine, roomba, order food. Robot maid is superfluous.

[@himan12345678]

The closest thing to a robot maid that will be seriously created will be a mobile "mothership/dock" for the various task specific robots. I like to think of the magical mop and bucket vs robot maid. Which would you rather have? The broom/mop&bucket that automatically magically clean your domicile, or some servant that does?

[@magic1wizard]

​@@himan12345678I want a hot robot maid.

[@himan12345678]

@@magic1wizard there will be a market for humanoid robots ofc. But they will be niche and come at a premium. Likely also with a social stigma because everyone will know you specifically went out of your way for that rather than the more practical and economical option. Humanoid robots won't be nearly as ubiquitous as media like the jetsons or iRobot or Detroit become human make it seem. Are cars designed to be like robotic horses? No. Are there robotic/mechanical horses/bulls. Yes. People will simply want the "magical mop&bucket" so to speak. Same as they just wanted the carriage they didn't actually want the horse.

[@panqueque445]

3:31 I like how instead of playing an alarm clock noise, or music, it just fucking punches you awake like you're late for school or something.

[@LSA30]

Ah, childhood memories…

[@SCIFIguy64]

I always liked these old concepts because the overall idea does exist, at least to an extent. Like there’s no massive robot, it’s not bringing me coffee or cooking my breakfast, but my roomba keeps my floor relatively clean daily, I can sync my coffee machine to brew at a set time, my lights can be controlled by my phone and set to turn off I’m in not in the room anymore, I can answer the door through my phone and I can even control some of it on my watch. But none of it seems interesting to us, it’s still kinda “gimmicky” right now. Even though the majority of people have some aspects of it and use them daily, it still feels like it’s an extra step vs making things easier.

[@kueller917]

The challenge was always linking them together. The actual tasks are not too hard since they still require a human to send the start command. The advancement of AI recently might mean we're finally on the path to making the linking happen but then comes the question if there is actually a demand for that.

[@poeticsilence047]

​@kueller917 You will be out of a job soon KiKi if that happens.

[@arthas640]

Wouldn't be that hard to just teach a Roomba to ferry me beer

[@christophercharbonneau1541]

Abel Mabel analyzes market trends, undergoes a positive feedback loop. You come home to find all your savings gone and your house stuffed to the brim with CORN.

[@ctf_2fort152]

I think robot maids are kind of a "if all you have is a hammer" case. We will automate all our tasks one day, but we in the past mistook it for a robo maid because we aren't that creative and it's easier to think of a catch all solutions instead of individual ones

[@616ShadowFox]

we will automate all our tasks?

[@ctf_2fort152]

@@616ShadowFox ideally, yes

[@JohanRealman]

If you wanted to you could automate tasks like cooking, light cleaning, laundry, etc, but the solutions are unsightly and hardly convenient outside of their main tasks.

[@616ShadowFox]

seems like a pipe dream for the majority of humanity, the energy and resource cost would be huge! Especially with climate change and economic stagnation we are seeing@@ctf_2fort152

[@himan12345678]

​@@ctf_2fort152actually, ideally no. Yet we're going to anyway. Then we're going to become maladaptive and wreck everything.

[@ColetteHart]

I love the retrofuturism videos, but thanks to this now I have a crippling fear of being suddenly woken up by a fridge with creepy plastic hands and a twin MG turret for a head.

[@tupe444]

you can tell this was from a different era because if it was made a few years later, some of these scenes would be depicted as extremely ominous

[@thecianinator]

Have you seen the trailer for Demon Seed? All I could think about watching this

[@skiptoacceptancemdarlin]

textiles are actually the origin of computing. it's kind of appropriate to have a robot with a "computer understanding of textiles." it ain't the molecular structure, it's the patterning. it doesn't translate well to the household level, but modern automated manufacturing owes everything to the loom.

[@shaider1982]

For context, the first robot to use the sigma star technique in AI pathfinding, Shakey, was only made in the 1970's.

[@BlazeMakesGames]

I have always found it funny how especially in the early days of computing, that a lot of people seemed to think that robots were always right around the corner. Like the idea that AI or even just general problems like image recognition would be trivial. Not to mention the mere notion that computing technology would be that small to begin with in that timeframe lol. And it's like not just because they're completely ignorant of technology, I mean this guy and many other people of the time were clearly very smart, it's just that computers have always been an interesting point of misunderstanding for so long

[@perfectallycromulent]

energy weapons, flying cars, jetpacks, space travel, and many other technologies have been right around the corner as long as robots have. sci-fi is full of stuff that is sure to be abundant in the near future yet somehow that future never comes.

[@himan12345678]

Just to point out. Image recognition is actually trivial. The non trivial part is usefully applying that image recognition.

[@generalrubbish9513]

@@himan12345678"Image recognition is actually trivial" When your AI model looks at a picture of a cat and outputs "dog" for the 47th consecutive time:

[@Ben-tb5di]

Able Mable having a burner for brewing tea is the modern equivalent of refrigerators today having computers

[@LucasZambranoFilms]

How so?

[@generalrubbish9513]

@@LucasZambranoFilms I'm guessing in the sense that it's completely pointless and doesn't need to be there, but it seems "cool" and futuristic.

[@heyitsevan758]

I love seeing glimpses of the mindset that people in the 20th century had concerning the future and technology.

[@peytonmac1131]

Now it's all just fear mongers screaming about AI and Skynet.

[@Yuhyuhmuhmuh]

It's pretty easy to see why most of our sci-fi started back then, they were just entering a new era

[@gearandalthefirst7027]

7:55 "Yeah lets put the boiling water on the part of this thing that telescopes and spins around frequently"

[@alexanderveritas]

*Able Mable* might now have been the robot we needed, or deserved… And I suppose that’s why we never did in the first place, but at least we know that *Able Mable* will forever exist in our hearts, and minds… especially in those of paranoid schizophrenics. I don’t really have a point I’m just disappointed that I never got the chance to own my personal “robot slave.”

[@higgsbonbon]

Honestly with some programming shortcuts she probably could be made today, but most of her tasks would need to be choreographed rather than intelligently accomplished.

[@sirajalden4453]

​@higgsbonbon that's what I was thinking of.

[@shaider1982]

Able Mabel is sort of like the British take on the Domestobot from GTA SA.

[@shaider1982]

​​@@higgsbonbon possibly, just buy a bipedal robot from Agility robotics or even Boston Dynamics (pricier and high end, though) and then just figure out how to add voice commands.

[@arthas640]

Yeah Lincoln really ruined things for us... well some of us anyways, like upper and upper middle classes

[@TheSelfCenter]

i absolutely love channels like these that make deep dives on... Literally anything, lol. They take so much effort! I appreciate your content and what you're making! 💯

[@higgsbonbon]

Ohoho. How quaint. Here I am watching this video on a palm-sized supercomputer, and I still don't have a robot.

[@SangoProductions213]

Define robot

[@higgsbonbon]

@@SangoProductions213 robot deez nuts

[@dendostar5436]

Helper: Bee bee beep. Boop.

[@jtgd]

You mean domestic slave?

[@mahatmarandy5977]

That’s beautiful. Is that Maya Angelou?

[@Flynn217something]

If my robot housemaid doesn't look like an anime robot housemaid then I don't even want a robot housemaid.

[@nordicnostalgia8106]

Who are you kidding ofc you do

[@peterroberts4415]

Reject anime catgirls, embrace anime robabes

[@deathsyth8888]

​​@@peterroberts4415What about an anime robot girl who looks like a cat girl?

[@ColyBaloneyCLBL]

Nah, i want more girl characters that don’t look traditionally feminine.

[@generalrubbish9513]

@@ColyBaloneyCLBL Buff tomboy housemaid who lifts you up and carries you to bed.

[@christianhunt7382]

"Let her command her own slave, at a touch of a button !" Damn, to be in the 1950's!

[@turboemerald9228]

*1960's

[@darriansea]

The perspective of they thought to just design better appliances because that's what they knew makes me wonder what similar tunnel visions we have now.

[@the-letter_s]

7:07 "LET HER COMMAND HER OWN SLAVE" well goddamn, 1966, let Detroit: Become Human eat its fuckin synthetic heart out, why don't you

[@elchomper.1063]

I need a thousand of these worst robots videos like yesterday. This is genuinely awesome funny and interesting. I could only imagine being a kid in 66 seeing this presentation and being blown away. This thing in a way probably helped the development of tech more than we know just from inspiration. Ozzy Osbourne was inspired by the Beatles. No Beatles no Ozzy no black Sabbath no Metallica no Slipknot and so on. By proxy one could argue the creation of heavy metal started with the Beatles but was created by sabbath.

[@williamhardee8863]

This is why people back then had more hope for the future, now everyone’s a Doomer. There was more conflict in the world at that time than there is today, and yet they were able to be so much more optimistic than us because we know within hours whenever a tragedy happens and it’s all we talk about. Ignorance truly is bliss.

[@jaimeogas]

Helter Skelter was the most metal song by the Beatles.

[@DracoMagnius]

The Beatles were a cornerstone for music in general. They were the first boy band. Not only did they inspire Rock and it's various sub genres you could argue N Sync, K-Pop groups, etc wouldn't have existed without the Beatles as well.

[@thePeterandByron]

13:35 _"This idea that technology exists to make life easier"_ Haha. Those silly 60's people and their crazy ideas.

[@happymartin6778]

8:13 Because this is the BBC and by extension, a UK program. Of course the robot can make Tea, that's a British thing to ask for. Unless I'm wrong, British Tanks come equipped with Tea making equipment.

[@davidharrington4828]

I’m hoping this becomes a regular series.

[@ricucci-hillmusic]

I mean, one could make the argument that we do have a form of mechanical housemaid in the form of virtual assistant like alexa, Google home, etcetera. Can the clean the house and make you dinner, absolutely not, but you can set up grocery list look up information while you're cooking, you can even order groceries through these things. Virtual assistants are essentially digital secretaries in the house, which is at least a step in the right direction

[@LegoBob4123]

Pretty sure you can hook up a Roomba or a smart microwave to an Alexa. It's not exactly a robo-maid but it definitely would blow the mind of someone from the 50's

[@Gameface9782]

As a professional grocer who isn’t too attached to his job, I’d probably mess with Mabel if it ever came into my store

[@alexthewrecker4666]

Place a traffic cone in front of it 😭

[@Unclearrain]

I don’t know why but old robots are so uncanny to me. I remember getting freaked out by Merkin when I was little Edit: Merkin the ROBOT😭😭😭

[@madsli]

Google: "A merkin is a pubic wig" Weird thing to be scared by.

[@MonkeyspankO]

I find the most interesting part of "future" predictions from the past, is always the bias of the era/person. They can never predict how things will change, instead they always seem to think everything will be the same, just futuristic.

[@shaider1982]

Hope Tyler also makes a video on the first attempt for a real exoskeleton, Hardiman.

[@gmt-yt]

I think until robots do dishes -- not a specific "robot-compatible" subclass of dishes, but all of them, better than people do them -- we can say that general-purpose robotics and AI have not really reached any sort of monumental generality. That stated I do think something like Mabel will happen, just probably not until I'm old enough to be really, really lucky to be living in the era where it does. Kind of hoping they don't look like that but it might be cute if they did. So, in summation, I, for one, welcome our new robotic domestic servants, but dread to think what will happen if some adversary hacks that thing.

[@Shaun_Jones]

I feel like enemy governments have better things to do than make robot dishwashers smash coffee cups. You could hack the thing and possibly get personal information off of it, but that’s nothing new.

[@EasyEighty-Eight]

Despite how impractical her design is, Able Mabel has such a retro charm to her that I can't help but love it.

[@randomtinypotatocried]

Did they just admit wives back then were seen as "domestic slaves"? Wtf

[@connman4008]

Cause they essentially were seen as that back then. Wild ain't it

[@DracoMagnius]

Welcome to the 1950s-1960s full of sexism, racism, majority of people actually having a house on one income and all the cigarettes you could smoke. They even had ads for cigarettes in kid's shows.

[@fluttzkrieg4392]

Robotic looking robot maid: i sleep Anime girl looking robot maid: レアル　シット

[@metodoinstinto]

I know people remember the movie Short Circuit as their childhood reference, but for me the T800 will always be my go-to robot reference. He's more human than most humans and that's the catch.

[@higgsbonbon]

T-800 domestic slave when

[@niller88]

All valid criticism given the presentation, but remember also that the basics of computer programming date back to the 1600s (where Leibniz pioneered what would eventually become the 1s and 0s of Boolean algebra, which is the basis of all of programming). Furthermore, true polymaths are rare, so what you often get is an expert in the field of e.g. mechanical engineering giving an example of how a machine can do X thing, so that someone skilled in computation can figure out how to integrate the function into a program. And then further iterations of engineers and scientists to figure out the architecture, electricians, masons and whatnot to build the production facilities, and then marketing and logistics people to sell the damn thing. Point being that not everyone can be a DaVinci, and engineering is basically throwing shit at the wall until something sticks, sometimes for hundreds of years.

[@Alec_Reaper]

Man I really want a robot to wake me up and give me tea just how I like it.

[@kueller917]

I always loved your little tech history videos. I remember you were disappointed in how the jet engine car did but that was one of my favorites.

[@NoxideActive]

The Communist Ton killed me.

[@danieladamczyk4024]

This serie fuels me with glee. Keep it doing.

[@JaykPuten]

7:40 she even looks like shes constantly smoking

[@LegoBob4123]

7:43 Of course there's a big focus on tea. This was made by the British.

[@Gatorade69]

A robot doing my shopping for me ? Why that can never happen in America. It would be turned into scrap metal on it's first trip. RIP Hitchiking Bot.

[@ricerice245]

it can supposedly lift a ton so i guess it might have a defense mode

[@nordicnostalgia8106]

@@ricerice245 That would go bad so fast. It can just have cameras and an alarm. Like a car I guess

[@Early2000sCringe]

"Free your wife from domestic slavery" sounds sort of based until you get to "Let her control her own slave"

[@alphamarigi]

33s? Last time I was this fast I got cocky about how much I can dilly dally before going to the busstop

[@JaykPuten]

4:50 weren't the first computers made of looms or something? Maybe im thinking of the wanted movie

[@MisterTalkingMachine]

They weren't but the punch card systems of early computers have their historical origins in the perforated card loops used by some much older automatic looms to store the cloth pattern they made

[@JaykPuten]

@MisterTalkingMachine thanks for the clarification, so I'm not crazy, just conflating ideas

[@AndyHoward]

"Domestic Slavery" geez 1966.

[@d.j.manley7773]

Imagine waking up in the middle of the night hearing your robot maid cleaning your kitchen in pitch black darkness. Something about having a robot in my house is unsettling

[@CryptoTonight9393]

Looking forward to more videos in this series.

[@JudeFurr]

You know its gonna be a good day when knowledge HUSK uploads

[@akimomalrov3241]

I didnt know i needed a Able Mabel documentary in my life, but apparently, I did.

[@jameshughes3014]

i love that after waking you up, her eyes shoot out threateningly. GOOD MORNING HUMAN Seriously though, i'm bummed we never really got the robot house maid. It's not even that impossible.

[@peytonmac1131]

It's just easier to build machines for specific purposes. A washing machine, a dishwasher, a coffee maker, a roomba, Bluetooth lights. We're perhaps not far off being able to build an all purpose robot, but it would struggle to find a purpose when we already have other machines that specialise their functions.

[@jameshughes3014]

​@@peytonmac1131You're not wrong, it's easier to build that stuff but robots physically capable of doing basic house maid stuff, like bringing coffee to you have existed now for well over a decade. And now with the recent boom in AI, the software wouldn't be hard either. I've been building bots for fun for a long time, I know if we don't expect them to climb stairs or anything, they could be mass produced for less than five grand. It's just that people building bots are focused on making super fancy half million dollar machines for factories instead of something cheap and useful in the home, probably because of fears of lawsuits if it falls on your cat. Still, I'd love to have one that could do my laundry, empty my dishwasher, make tv dinners.. especially when i'm sick.

[@tompatterson1548]

Machines exist that will brew tea for a preset time. Let you schedule it, and put a few valves on it and a milk reservoir, you could literally have that.

[@stinkerace4075]

Yessss I love these kinds of videos

[@irighterotica]

I, too, want a robot maid. Specifically one that looks/sounds like Dorothy from Big O. Don't judge me.

[@bajamarbass]

Using Costa Rica's Anthem for the ad was the chef kiss. Loved the human size boxy body of Mabel. That cocktail scene seem to be a multitask function by design.

[@jaredwblack]

When starting to talk about how robots are to go up stairs, at 10:16 the video cuts to a walking robot with a Dalek in the background. But Daleks could just levitate when confronted with stairs, and in fact you see this one start to do that...

[@happymartin6778]

7:09 Someone got fucking fired for that line, SOMEONE had to have been holy fucking shit during the era of Civil Rights?

[@trygveplaustrum4634]

I’m single right now. Maybe its because I keep wandering around shouting, “I MUST ACQUIRE A DOMESTIC SLAVE!”

[@Roxor128]

The "analyse market trends" bit could be done today by software that scrapes the supermarket websites and assembles a history of prices, then when you're following your list off your phone, it could point out that X product that you put on the list, but which keeps well, is unusually cheap, so you should buy extra while the price is down.

[@bomba1905]

5:21 The American can not comprehend being within walking distance of the store.

[@chris7263]

I've seen some really cool videos of fancy walking robots that incorporate much more complex balance and joints and can handle stairs and getting pushed. They were super impressive to me, after having always seen robots like this, and make me feel like the mechanical tech really does matter too. Won't do you any good without the computer though--pretty sure that fancy programming was involved in making the balance work.

[@UCannotDefeatMyShmeat]

3:55 why’s it gotta just be the scary floating head man from spy kids 3D

[@NaterNorris]

Man I love these videos LOL

[@CeezGeez]

3:32 imagine that hand gently caressing your face as you wake up at 3 in the morning

[@AndyHoward]

£500 in 1966 = £9,379 in 2023

[@carlsoll]

8:07 I love the *eye’s* 👀 She can see right out the window :D

[@Yapmanpac]

10:44 Can't believe whimky is dead :(

[@adamsfusion]

My washing machine is on the loose

[@PseudoEmpathy]

Vacuume: Roomba. Dishes: Dishwasher. Washing: Washing machine. Art: Printer. Most of this shit has been available since the 90s

[@damiaanwolters4739]

I hate having to get out of bed at night to piss

[@jasonhatt4295]

10:10 Great information! We can avert the robot apocalypse with stairs!!!

[@user-yl4lf9mh1w]

do more robot videos this was great

[@kaitlyn__L]

I definitely got the impression the Mable part was a light parody, given some of the voiceover lines, that they came up with after the fact to add some interest to the rather dry interview with Mister Mechanical Hands.

[@carlsoll]

3:41 ‘Waaaalllleeeee’

[@ncrvako]

Can we have a robot that is gun/pc/psp storage moving unit that is also your buddy.

[@tcaldwe]

We have the Roomba. Not as cute as Mabel and less threatening to humankind.

[@sethgaston8347]

I’ve been using the Waymo app a lot recently, and I’ve got to say it’s been really fun. I live in Phoenix and there’s Waymo cars driving all around so the wait is like 3 minutes tops. I don’t like how often the car speaks tho…….

[@higgsbonbon]

"Please don't talk to me, Robot Car."

[@jerrymartin7019]

Whenever I see a youtuber do a sponsorship for Warthunder I feel big brained and ahead of the curve for already knowing about and playing it, a feeling which is immediately killed when I realize how much happier I would be without Warthunder.

[@AnonymousOmniscience]

Flying vehicles that the general population uses in place of automobiles and pilots themselves? Not going to happen. That has all of the safety concerns of the public driving automobiles, made airborne. Self flying taxis? Definitely a possibility if allowed. Humanoid robots that can clean your house? Definitely a possibility in the near future. The robotics are already there and the AI needed to do it is rapidly growing in capabilities. It will be a matter of if society is comfortable with humanoids robots in public and/or in their homes.

[@jmtradbr]

We are never going to have humanoid servants.

[@poweradereal]

10:20 we get the CLOPPING>????

[@danic_c]

14:53 Why is the War Thunder background theme the national anthem of Costa Rica?

[@thatguyoverthere225]

Hot take: Robot maids in the home won't be popular until we have sex bots that can clean for you.

[@guillermoelnino]

But we can just import them right now from [insert East Asian country here].

[@stevenwestswanson9263]

Greetings form the space year 2023! We have no flying cars, no household robots but we have Social Media! Just a update form the space year of 2023...

[@scalzo9872]

Refreshing content

[@TheLollermelon]

What was the last song played in this video? We played it in jazzband

[@rodrigolefever2426]

The national anthem of costa rica

[@Lets_go_lesbians]

New knowledge husk let's goooo

[@redgreen2453]

Huskie: “I’ve given up hope on robotic automated domestic assistance” Roomba: “Well fine, I guess I’ll just go cry in the corner then”

[@nathanjohnwilliamson7675]

Happy birthday Pauline

[@tompatterson1548]

You can literally get groceries delivered by a robot. My family did it when I was in high school.

[@mattc7420]

The rusty Android maid

[@-srgalleta-9181]

5:57 that's so, like SO American thinking my god. Imagine a world just picture it, were you have a store just around the block, what a strange place is the rest of the world

[@Pipemurillo12]

Bro why was the anthem of Costa Rica (country without an army) playing in the background of the Wat Thunder ad?💀💀💀💀 keep your blood thirsty machines to your American bloody hands

[@chrisrosenkreuz23]

bro you can literally get a decent robot vacuum since at LEAST 10 years ago

[@AroAceGamer]

Isn't a roomba essentially a robot maid?

[@Gatorade69]

My Roomba doesn't look good in a skimpy maid costume though.

[@clan741]

@@Gatorade69I’d beg to differ

[@HarvestStore]

Great video.

[@aaronkempenich124]

0:13 Roomba

[@LegionLx]

Not gonna lie, when I got the video notification and skimmed the title, I was kind of hoping for a robotic blue hedgehog that would make clothes