The problem with the idea of Rosie from the Jetsons,

is that it takes way more AI than there may ever be to build an autonomous, multi-purpose domestic robot. Certainly more than we are capable of now.

The problem with Roombas,

and other single-purpose domestic robots is that even if they worked well–and a Roomba still is not very good at cleaning floors, really–who wants one robot for every task? I don’t even like single-purpose kitchen implements.

But: we have an internet, and we have robots that can move like humans (they just don’t think like humans). We could easily make a domestic robot that’s remote-controlled by a human over the internet (with cameras for “eyes”), and uses all our regular cleaning tools, to clean just as well as a human does.

This would help with a few problems:

• Illegal immigration. One could work in one country, elsewhere, while being employed in one’s home country.
• Income inequality. Maybe, at least a little.
• Unpleasant employer/employee interactions. My theory here is that most interactions between some employers and their domestic employees are not going to be successful. In those cases, robots may be better.

Of course, this approach would be expensive, at least initially, and probably cause other problems.