Service Robots in Service by 2010

Igor Birman writes "Reuters reports that Toyota aims to sell service robots by 2010. Meanwhile, the most advanced consumer robot produced in the US appears to be the iRobot Roomba, now available in pink. More information is available at Robotics Trends and NewsTarget.com"

Comments

Video feed:

[ets960]

Here's the video feed of the robots in motion http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/special/robot/

Given Their Abilities With Cars...

[tquinlan]

...and the fact that they're technologically way ahead of just about everyone else in that department (see their Prius and the Lexus Rx400h) I wouldn't put it past them. They have the right combination of good management, solid financials, and technical know how that this shouldn't seem far fetched to anyone. (They also have a fair amount of experience working with Denso, as that's the company that they work with on the hybrids.)

Re:Demand

[delirium28]

Umm, ever heard of Robomow? Granted, you still need to push the big green "Go" button to get it started, but it's still better than doing it yourself.

Roomba is not a robot...

[hey!]

It is an application of robotics technology to a household problem. It's a smart appliance.

OK, technically, it is a robot, but it falls far short of what people are thinking when the speak of a domestic robot. It partially fulfills the expectation that the robot will have autonomous mobility, but it lacks the flexible programming and multi-purpose appendages that would make it suitable to a wide variety of tasks. On a scale that starts with the fuzzy logic washing machine and goes up to the first generation robots of the Asimov story, it may be an important historical landmark, but it is still nearly indistinguishable from the washing machine.

Of course, what people think of when they talk about domestic robots may be a solution in search of a problem. Maybe your house becomes the robot, and the Roomba type devices become its appendages. But it's challenging, becuase it's probably not just a matter of networking all your devices to a central controller. Look at how hard it is to come up with a car instrument panel that is simple and convenient to use, and I think it's obvious that the smart house is an order of magnitude harder.