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"Science fiction and science have always danced around each other. Science fiction is the subconscious of science."
- Greg Bear

Flexible Frank  
  An all-purpose household robot.  

Housekeeping is repetitious and unnecessary drudgery; as an engineer, it offended me.


(Flexible Frank robot from 'Door into Summer' by Robert Heinlein)

For the problem to be within the scope of one engineer, almost all of Flexible Frank had to be standard parts and must not involve any new principles...


('Door into Summer' by Robert Heinlein)

Just what did I want Flexible Frank to do? Answer: any work a human being does around a house. He didn't have to play cards, make love, eat or sleep, but he did have to clean up after the card game, cook, make beds, and tend babies - at least he had to keep track of a baby's breathing and call someone if it changes.

Technovelgy from The Door Into Summer, by Robert Heinlein.
Published by Fantasy & Science Fiction in 1956
Additional resources -

Compare to the household robot from Ely's Automatic Housemaid, by Elizabeth Bellamy published in 1899.

Thanks to @SMOF_ for the great cover graphic.

Thanks to Pete for suggesting this item.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Door Into Summer
  More Ideas and Technology by Robert Heinlein
  Tech news articles related to The Door Into Summer
  Tech news articles related to works by Robert Heinlein

Flexible Frank-related news articles:
  - Twendy-One Robot Is Your Humanoid Helper
  - REEM-B Robot Autonomous Helper Video
  - Care-O-Bot Robot Does Chores One-Handed
  - Basil Reification Robot
  - ATLAS Robot Now Does Housework!
  - Elon Musk et. al. OpenAI Household Robot
  - Housekeeping Robots Easy To Imagine, Tough To Make
  - VirtualHome: Teaching Robots To Do Chores Around The House
  - Dyson's Secret Household Robots
  - Unitree H1 General-Purpose Humanoid Robot

Articles related to Robotics
Korean Exoskeleton Suit F1 Helps You Put It On
Humanoid Robots Spotted In Homes Performing Household Chores
Bambot Open Source Cheap Delivery Robot
Robot Collective Acts Like A Smart Material

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