Home robots have been a pipe dream for a long time. Since the 1940s at least, home or domestic robots have been a popular theme in pop culture, and have captured the imaginations of people everywhere. It would be great to outsource all of your chores to a robot that never sleeps, doesn’t require food (besides electricity), and gets to work immediately.
The problem with these dramatized conceptions of home robots is that they’ve always been misaligned with the technical capabilities of their time. This is why (although there has been failed attempts) none of these types of robots ever made it into the mainstream thus far. These robots simply could not handle the complexity of the tasks that people envisioned they could do.
It’s worth mentioning that the one home robot that has hit the mainstream is the vacuum robot (commonly a Roomba). It has achieved great commercial success, filling millions of homes around the world. And its easy to understand why this robot did work. Its task is very simple, it works on one plane and all it has to do is travel around that plane, make sure it doesn’t get stuck, and cover all possible areas. And even this it fails in often. A Roomba lying on its back like a turtle or jammed into a corner under the couch is an incredibly disappointing image if you’re looking at home robots with the rose coloured glasses of the 1950s.
But all hope is not yet lost, now that artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the wide availability of computing have empowered the potential for home robots, we are seeing strides towards those friendly robots envisioned long ago. Imagine an in home robot sommelier, that stores your wine, and can recommend and pour a glass for you instantly. Or the in home amazon security drones, that create digital models of your home and know the best ways to keep you safe. Maybe the ceiling mounted robotic arm being developed by Honda, that can follow you around and clean up your messes through clever AI and sensor systems.
Although people have been doing it for the last 100 years, it seems like maybe right now is actually a good time to be excited about home robots, they are getting closer and closer to being commercially viable, and I think the biggest indicator of that is the amount of companies that are getting heavily invested in these projects. But who knows, maybe I’m still just dreaming.
Sources:
https://www.wired.com/story/robots-use-ai-learn-clean-your-house/
Interesting topic about home robots. I never thought it was already a popular theme since the 1940s, but now that I think about it, I’ve seen lots of movies and anime with robots back in time before I was even born and I can see them on that nice image.
I can see lots of practical usages with home robots. I think the vacuum robot is very nice, although I never had one, I see a Youtuber that has 3 cats using it. It’s very helpful as cats drop fur on the ground and they would eat their own fur if it’s still on the ground and then vomit them out later. So having a vacuum robot really helps them from keeping the vomiting away from their lives.
Alexa is also a popular home robot now, it allows you to turn on your lights using voice commands without you ever touching buttons, so you won’t have to look for it in the dark. You can also turn on your tv with it and control it just using voice commands. So even if you are too lazy to get that tv remote a meter away from you, you can use Alexa.
As time passes and the advancements of IoT, more and more practical robots appear on the market.
For example, BOCCO emo is a communication robot that helps send text and voice messages using voice commands even if the user is too young or unable to own a smartphone. You can also send messages to your kids via your phone to BOCCO, so even if you are away leaving your kids at home, you are always in touch.
Another example is Walabot HOME, which only uses radio frequency to tell if someone has fallen in the room. It’s popular in bathrooms as that is where many people tend to fall. Even if the person that fell is unconscious, the robot can detect that someone has fallen and will contact the caregiver immediately.
Like these, it is very interesting to see many new robots come to the market and making our lives safer and more efficient.