The usefulness of useless AI

In every crisis since the fifties at least one article emerges to ask: where are the robots to save us? No robots are seen en masse collecting garbage, administering Covid-19 tests, or farming the fields. What we want is a warehouse full of useful tools and devices to pull out when the going gets tough. What we have are endless grant applications for studying theoretical situations and university halls filled with dithering professors. What do they even do, but teach the 2 hours per week?