Technology

If Emily had existed 20 years ago, Pamela Anderson may have never had a career. Or, er, something like that. EMILY is the acronym for Emergency Integrated Lifesaving Lanyard, an automated remote-controlled robot lifeguard. She's not buxom, she's not blonde, but she does wear bright orange. Emily the robot lifeguard is already being used in a bunch of places, including the same Los Angeles beach made famous by Baywatch. Irony?

If a lifeguard sees a swimmer in trouble, he or she can send Emily remotely through the water to save the person. In fact, Em already made her first rescue, that of a father and son in Oregon.

Emily has some advantages over human lifeguards -- she can cut through rough waves. She can swim 22 miles per hour, faster than most humans, except maybe Michael Phelps. And she doesn't put a lifeguard in danger. Drowning victims have been known to desperately cling to their saviors, risking pulling them down into the water as well.

All of this sounds better than a sunny day with C. J. Parker and the gang. But ... I'm a little concerned about Emily. First of all, will this mean that flesh-n-blood lifeguards might lose jobs? What if Emily craps out midway on her rescue mission? What if something goes awry with the technology and she does the breaststroke in the wrong direction? And can Emily say things like, "Don't worry, I've gotcha!"??

I don't know about you, but if I'm ever in trouble in the water (and I only was once -- I swam out too far and couldn't seem to get back because of the riptide), I want to see a human coming to get me, not a machine. Preferably a male human with nice abs and arms. I want him to look like David Hasselhoff, okay? David circa 1991, that is.

Do you think lifeguards should be robots?

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