Projects > Story-of-the-Day > servot

I was just starting to put the dirty dishes from breakfast into the dishwasher, when I heard my wife calling to me from across the house, "Oh, dear. You'll never guess what I bought today. Come out and look, it's being delivered now."

As I stepped into our grand foyer, I see the AndroHelp truck parked on our driveway. "Did you get one of those new android butlers? What are they called?"

Sherry smirked at me, "They're called servots, and ours is named George."

"How did you get one? I've heard they were only sending them out to 100 people on a long wait list. Also, can we rename it? George sounds too human."

"We can afford it. And with the new baby coming, we need all the help we can get. And we can do anything we want with it."

We watched as George walked up the stairs. His walk was a bit stilted, but otherwise seemed human. He was flanked on both sides by AndroHelp workers, holding onto his arms. George stood there in front of us as the workers brought up a large black box from their truck, which they installed in our front closet. "Here you go, ma'am. The charging pod is installed and George is ready to go. We just need you to sign here." They spoke as she signed, "The units themselves are pretty intuitive to use. George here has already been given a floorplan of your house, and reviewed both of your social media accounts. He should be pretty much in tune with you from the start. Do you want us to go through it's functions?"

"No, we'll figure it out. Thanks!"

I had to try this out, "George, could you go in and put away all the dishes?"

George walked past us directly towards the kitchen. I could hear the clink of plates being put away as the workers turned to leave. "By the way, we'll be back in one month for a regular service call." They then walked away and left. This is going to be fun!

We both walked to the kitchen and peeked around the corner. George had already put everything away and was adding a tab of soap. After starting the dishwasher he looked at us and asked, "Shall I sweep?"

I don't know why I didn't expect that, but I almost jumped, "Whoa, it can talk too?" I faced George, "Actually, George, could you please clean all the windows? Outside and in."

Sherry and I followed it around for the first three windows just watching. Sherry then noted, "You know, we're not really saving any time if we just sit here and watch him work. We should go do our things."

By evening, we had both stopped asking George to do anything, or using the word "please". It was all commands now: "Wash and dry all the bed sheets", "Make a quinoa chili for dinner", "Serve us the strawberry shortcake dessert you made"...

As we were getting ready for bed, I looked out at the kitchen and saw George cleaning up. "Dear, do we have to plug him in?"

"Nope, George will just walk into his charging pod when he's done with his chores and senses that we are asleep."

"Hmm, ok." I was brushing my teeth and walked out to the kitchen. I wiped some toothpaste off my cheek and smeared it on George's forehead. "Good night, George."

⁂

George finished cleaning up after dinner. He then turned off the lights and entered his charging pod. As the door closed behind him, his shoulders slumped. He removed one of the daily nutrition pills hidden behind a panel on the inside of the pod, and ate it. He wiped off the toothpaste. He then pulled out his personal phone and sent a message, "Hi Marcy. It seems to be working. It was a tough day, but it pays well. Please kiss Dennis on the forehead for me tomorrow morning before he goes to kindergarten. 364 more days..."