Imposters on Foreign Soil

And you think you’ve got it all sorted out. Life is going well, extra funds are invested in banks, and then you get to a point of no return. You are tired of household maids making excuses, bitching about anything that doesn’t suit their agenda, and then they let you down with a lame excuse from turning up to work. No more worries, buy a robot.

UBTECH has completed the world's first mass delivery of industrial humanoid robots, the Walker S2 model, primarily to major automotive manufacturers and tech firms within China. While some sources frame this as sending them "abroad" from a non-Chinese perspective, the initial deployments are largely domestic to customers like BYD, Geely, FAW-Volkswagen, Dongfeng, and Foxconn.

However, shortly afterwards they will be arriving on foreign soil. Brazil might welcome such humanoids to carry out domestic activities especially as robots will not be taking time out, or making excuses for delivering timely execution of work in one’s home. Imagine your new family member, an obedient robot aiming to please and doing the mundane tasks like sanitizing toilets and scrubbing floors or making beds in ship shape mode.

Certainly, it beats having a pet that just lays around all day long. Pets clearly are man’s best friend, but they need affection, food on a plate, walks to expel their business, and then everything else like the vet to take care of them, or petting. Robots however, don’t need much maintenance apart from WD40. Talk about life saver; no more dollops to pick up!

The real crunch though comes in the future when the Chinese manufacturers are asked to switch the button, and turn the robots into imposters on foreign soil mode. Like the White House’s ‘Red Button’ which activates nuclear warheads, robots become villains and orchestrate an undeniable force from within the homes of their victims.

Take care!

Prof. Carl Boniface

1 – Discuss the subject matter of the article with your teacher; would you like to own a robot, and if so, what would you expect from it.

2 – What part of the text above is real, and what part, if any is exaggeration?

3 - Lastly, are robots the way forward?

Vocabulary builder:

Sorted out (adj) to resolve or organize a problem, situation, or mess, either by finding a solution, separating or arranging items, or dealing with a person. It can also informally mean to punish or beat someone, or to get someone what they need. 

Ship shape (adj) = in good order; trim and neat. "He checked that everything was shipshape."

Petting (n) = caressing, cuddling, hugging, kissing, snuggling, stroking, patting

Dollops (n) = blobs, splotches, spoonful, squirts, drops