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Flying Cars George Jetson’s bubble-shaped flying car converted into a portable briefcase, and the Jetsons kids get delivered to school via flying pods. While car technology hasn’t reached these levels yet, there are companies venturing into this transporta- tion territory.

magically churned out. These days, there are vending machines that pump out pizzas —called pizza ATMS—and inventors are developing ways to make more and better 3D-printed food. Jetpacks There were plenty of jetpacks in The Jetsons universe, and people have been dreaming of this individual-sized aircraft for nearly a century. In 2015, JetPack Avia- tion successfully piloted a jetpack around the Statue of Liberty, but jetpack use is still extremely limited. Industry insiders believe that the average member of the public will be able to use a jetpack by the end of this decade. Robotic Household Help On The Jetsons , Rosie the Robot took care of the household chores and even helped care for the kids. While we don’t currently have access to a robot as multi- functional as Rosie, there are a variety of products on the market to handle specific tasks, including these: • iRobot Roomba Robot Vacuum • Grillbot Automatic Grill Cleaning Robot • Worx Landroid Robotic Lawn Mower • Tertill Weeding Robot

the Picturephone at the World’s Fair in New York. It was expensive and difficult to operate, however, and didn’t take off. In the late 1990s, cellular phones started to offer video calling, and Skype came on the scene in 2005 to provide video con- versations using web cams. Today video calls are commonplace thanks to applica- tions including FaceTime, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Google Duo.

For example, the Uber Elevate team is working toward transforming the world

QUICK TIP: Take advantage of smart home devices to enjoy futuristic-feeling convenience today.

Pneumatic Tube Travel The Jetson family entered their home by pneumatic tube, and George Jetson was also transported this way into his boss’s office. (Just picture the pneumatic tube in use at your bank’s drive-through lane, only much larger.) To get a glimpse at today’s pneumatic tube technology, check out virginhyperloop.com. Virgin Hyperloop is testing the first hyperloop passenger transport system.

through aerial ridesharing at scale. The initial launch of its Uber Air service is planned for 2023 and will utilize elec- tric VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft in Dallas and Los Angeles. 3D-Printed Food Meal prep was incredibly easy in the Jetson household. The family had a food- making machine, and all they had to do was select which foods they wanted to be

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