The Robots are Coming!
from Robotics (184 articles)
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Image Gallery ( 13 images )January 19, 2004 Helper, security and companion robots will be commonplace a decade from now. There are already more than 100 robotic commercialisation projects in the global public arena, and a dozen commercially available robots in the Japanese domestic market. In the next two to three years, that number will grow considerably, with research companies forecasting the home robotics market may one day be equal in size to the automotive market.
The robots on this page are some of the 100 robots demonstrated at the 2003 Robodex conference in Japan.They represent the current state-of-the-art for domestic helper and security robots and from left to right they are: the SOK C4 GuardRobo (on each end of row), Mitsubishi’s Wakamaru, Honda’s Asimo, tsmuk’s Banyru Guard Dragon (in front of Asimo), Matsushita’s HOSPI Hospital delivery robot, Kawada’s HRP2 and five Fujitsu MARONs.
The event which is the mecca for the rapidly evolving consumer robotics industry, saw robots demonstrate their value in performing simple manual labour, delivery and security duties, helper and companionship roles, with some even capable of conversation, recognising their owner, receptionist duties and language translation.
The most compelling commercially-viable area for consumer robotics in the short term appears to be that of security, where a robot can patrol the home in the owners absence, with smoke and motion detectors, and send video directly to the owner’s 3G mobile phone in the event of detecting intruders or fire. The word “robot” is relatively new – it was first used in 1920 by Czech playwright Karel Capek and comes from the Czech “robota”, which means “tedious labor”, though the concept of artificial lifeform was popularised in 1822 when Mary Shelley published the landmark novel “Frankenstein.”
Not just another writer, Isaac Asimov, layed down the ideas and principles in 1941, giving us the term robotics and the three (subsequently four) basic laws of robotics in 1942, at the same time forecasting the massive ubiquitous robotics industry about to unfold in the next decade, some 60 years ago.
One hundred years hence, by 2040, analysts predict that most households will own a robot, or at least be considering one. Robotics is already a US$8 billion industry globally, comprised mainly of industrial robots for welding, painting and assembly line tasks.
The consumer robotics marketplace is just emerging, with a gross of US$600 million in 2002, comprised mainly of programmable robots which mow lawns, clean floors and amuse children. The next level of robotics will be even more compelling and much more affordable.
Korean robotics start-up Mostitech recently rocked the fledgling personal robotics industry by announcing the mid-2004 availability of a home security robot that will sell for around AUD$1,100.
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