Able Mabel the Robot Housemaid (opens in new tab)

Able Mabel was featured on the BBC's Tomorrow's World program in 1966. She was what (head of the Dept of Mechanical Engineering at Queen Mary College of the University of London) imagined a future robot housemaid would look and act like: "She'll run your bath to the exact temperature she knows you'll like, she'll make your bed and lay out your clothes for another day, free from household drudgery, free from time-wasting chores like vacuum cleaning." Professor Thring appears on-screen about ha...