Baxter the Robot Will Make Your Life Easier, Until You Have No Life

Rethink Robotics promo fails to reassure

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Just in time for the Nostradamus Apocalypse, Rethink Robotics will ship a twin-clawed, $22,000 workaholic hunk of steel and circuitry called Baxter, which the Boston-based company says signals a breakthrough in mechanized labor. Unlike most industrial robots, which are kept far from tender flesh and easily broken bones, Baxter is designed to toil in close quarters with people, and the bot's promotional clip and attendant press coverage dwell on its many safety features. Baxter moves slowly, and its video-screen face (cute in a nightmarish, Orwellian way) turns red to let approaching humans know it can sense their presence.

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