# Meet AROK, a robot housekeeper built in the '70s **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 17, 2025, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-arok-a-robot-housekeeper-built-in-the-70s/1017149 "2025-04-17T22:09:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2025, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-arok-a-robot-housekeeper-built-in-the-70s/1017149/1 "2025-04-17T22:09:20Z")
> AROK is a 6-foot-8, 275-pound humanoid robot built by inventor Ben Skora. He can walk the dog, pour drinks, do the laundry, and even pick up the mail… sometimes. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/x538Vr4LBRE/maxresdefault.jpg "Meet AROK, a Robot Housekeeper Built in the 70's") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x538Vr4LBRE) I love the mask he used for the face. Very creepy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-arok-a-robot-housekeeper-built-in-the-70s/1017149/2 "2025-04-18T02:44:49Z")
Did somebody say robot? > **[AROK THE ROBOT | flying-cars](https://www.flyingcarsandfoodpills.com/arok-the-robot)** Lots of pictures and backstory you won’t find anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-arok-a-robot-housekeeper-built-in-the-70s/1017149/3 "2025-04-18T11:01:39Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I love the mask he used for the face. Very creepy. 🙂 It’s even creepier than the Uncanny Valley. Maybe he was actively trying to prevent people from buying his robot, so he wouldn’t have to make so many of them. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-arok-a-robot-housekeeper-built-in-the-70s/1017149/4 "2025-04-18T12:01:23Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Lots of pictures and backstory you won’t find anywhere else. I guess it’s appropriate that a website about retrofuturism has a UX design circa 1998 or so. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-arok-a-robot-housekeeper-built-in-the-70s/1017149/5 "2025-04-18T17:06:42Z")
Very obviously, this is just a somewhat human-shaped teleoperated machine. It has no autonomous capabilities: computers weren’t anywhere close to useful for that in the 70s. Sort of reminds me of the curious Japanese fascination with humanoid-shaped ‘robots’ (Asimo etc). Completely missing the point that the _interesting_ things about robots will be the brain, not the body… ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-arok-a-robot-housekeeper-built-in-the-70s/1017149/6 "2025-04-18T17:14:11Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I love the mask he used for the face. Ernest Borgnine, thinking, “please put me out of my misery!” ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-arok-a-robot-housekeeper-built-in-the-70s/1017149/7 "2025-04-18T17:29:36Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Ernest Borgnine, thinking, “please put me out of my misery!” Sure doesn’t look happy, anyway… ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-arok-a-robot-housekeeper-built-in-the-70s/1017149/8 "2025-04-18T18:16:01Z")
Hah. You would never say that if you saw the actual website I put up in 1997!