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Service Robots in Service by 2010

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the still-no-flying-car dept.

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"

16 of 229 comments (clear)

  1. Demand by suso · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Japan's top automaker sees a declining birthrate and aging population leading to growing demand for robots that can help in tasks such as child care and nursing care

    What? I don't know where these companies determine the demands that people have. People have been trying to make machines that could automatically mow a lawn for over 50 years now. I would think there would be a really high demand for robots that could do lawn care, take out the trash and clean the house. At least those tasks I could trust a robot to do properly and shouldn't be all that difficult if they are also "really" capable of caring for a child. Personally, it would be a long time before I would trust robotic technology and AI to care for a human being's health and safety.

    1. Re:Demand by KUHurdler · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Those auto mowing machines are already quite possible. The problem is that no one wants to be liable for version 1.0, that malfunctions and mows over the neighbor kids.

      That, and the fact that it is cheaper to just hire those neighbor kids to mow their lawn.

      --
      Fix Your Own TV - RiddledTV.com Avoid the Landfill
    2. Re:Demand by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 2, Insightful
      I would think there would be a really high demand for robots that could do lawn care

      I suspect the robot will still be more expensive than cheap (often immigrant) labor. As long as employers get away paying humans sub-living wages, these robots will be impractical.

      BTW I'm for immigration, but against slave wages.

    3. Re:Demand by hraefn · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why not? Many humans are incapable of providing care for another human's health and safety, but are nonetheless allowed to do so.

    4. Re:Demand by Alex+P+Keaton+in+da · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Just my two cents from out here in fly over country- Here in Ohio, you see the "robot" farm machinery all the time- There are threshers, harvesters etc that have GPS and all the toys and do a lot of the grunt work of a farm by wire. Of course, as it is in everything in the US, liability is a chief concern. You don't want a huge harvester running alone running over a kid or something, so often times, even though it is unnecessary to have one, there is an "operator" along for the ride.
      Also, as far as lawn mowers- when i was in college I used to work summers on a golf course, and during my coffee break I would read the turf grass magazines (there was no other reading material) and there were articles (this was 6 years ago) about the mowers that followed the underground wires. Once again, the chief issue was not reliability or quality, but liability.
      On a semi related note- have you seen the dogs that are trained to help disabled people? The ones that can open the fridge (with a special handle) and bring the owner a beverage? Those are amazing... But it also begs the comparison about how things are cyclical- automatic lawn mowers used to be called goats... then man does it himself for a hundred years or so, and now, robots do what goats used to...
      If a man speaks in the forest, and there is no woman there to hear him, is he still wrong?

      --
      And All I Ask is a Tall Ship And a Star to Steer Her By
  2. Toyota? by Adrilla · · Score: 2, Insightful

    For years I've been watching Honda pimp Asimo and you're telling me Toyota is the company to first bring us robots. Surprising. So where's Nissan in all this hubbub, or do they need not even apply.

    --

    "Plans are for fools! Oglethorpe, the plutonian (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
  3. can they handle a flying car? by Cryofan · · Score: 1, Insightful

    cuz this sounds like more vaporware, considering the American sociopolitical landscape

    Corporations go for the low-hanging fruit. Therefore, I doubt we will see any real funding for really useful robots so long as 3rd world "neoslaves"...oops! I mean "illegal aliens"....oops! I mean "undocumented workers" are allowed to move to the USA as cheap and desperate scab labor to fatten the wallets of investors and business owners and management.

    --
    eat shiat and bark at the moon
  4. Re:As always... by 3770 · · Score: 2, Insightful


    I wouldn't be surprised if the sex industry is one of the top three killer app's that drives this technology forward.

    It seems they are driving the adoption of many technologies these days.

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    The Internet is full. Go Away!!!
  5. I'll believe it when I see it by MichaelGospatric · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Personally I aim to start selling nuclear fusion plants by 2010. Which of course will accomodate growing demand for clean, efficient supplies of power.

    I could have sworn I saw this exact same article five years ago, aiming for a target of 2000 as the first year for mass-market helper robots.

  6. ... a little strange ... by ninjagin · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I think it's a very ambitious goal. The physical attributes of a humanoid robot have been developing quite rapidly... stuff like running, walking, arm & hand movement, etc. On the other hand, the AI and machine vision components would seem to be developing less slowly, and these are precisely the things that one would consider important for adoption in the target markets.

    I confess that I don't have much deep knowledge of advancements in AI and machine vision. Anytime we've had robot articles posted on slashdot lately they've been about advancements in the physical attributes of humanoid robots. Perhaps someone out there can fill me in on what I've been missing.

    Anyhow, on a lighter note, as I was reading the "trends" article, I could not help noticing this paragraph:

    The statement goes on to say that Toyota will make partner robots that "have human characteristics, such as being agile, warm and kind and also intelligent enough to skillfully operate a variety of devices in the area of personal assistance, care for the elderly, manufacturing and mobility." The statement continues, "since each area requires a special set of skills, Toyota is promoting the development of three different types of partner robots - walking, rolling and mountable - each with its own areas of expertise."

    WARNING: BAD JOKE AHEAD

    I like "agile, warm and kind", and the article stressed the advancements in the lips on certain robots such that they can play the trumpet, but if it's going to be "mountable", shouldn't there be some work on robots that are "moist" in addition to being "agile, warm and kind"? I mean, can you imagine the chafing?

    IT WAS A BAD JOKE, BUT YOU -=WERE=- WARNED, AFTER ALL

    --
    .. pa-ra-bo-la, pa-ra-bo-la, 2 pi R, 2 pi R, where's your latus rectum, where's your latus rectum, 2 pi R
  7. boost to the robots industry by unk1911 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Nothing would give a greater boost to the robot industry than a RoboGirl...

    --
    http://unk1911.blogspot.com/

  8. looking after the elderly? by binarstu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We already have a culture that puts the elderly away into nursing homes or retirement communities rather than having families take care of them. This is in sharp contrast to the way elderly members of most cultures have traditionally been cared for. A few generations back in the U.S., most elderly lived with their families as they aged.

    Now we're in the process of developing technology so that we won't even need to use precious human labor in taking care of the aged among us. This sounds like a sad development to me.

  9. but, won't this... by willCode4Beer.com · · Score: 2, Insightful

    put illegal immigrants out of work?

    --
    ----- If communism is a system where the government owns business, what do you call a system where business owns govern
  10. Congratulations... by Gruneun · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You managed to take an article from a London-based news agency, written in Tokyo, based on an outrageous claim from a Japanese company and referencing only other Japanese companies... and use it to bash the US.

    This place is getting more and more pathetic by the hour.

    1. Re:Congratulations... by steve_bryan · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You managed to take an article from a London-based news agency, written in Tokyo, based on an outrageous claim from a Japanese company and referencing only other Japanese companies... and use it to bash the US.

      Yep, that was my take on the posting as well. However, although I think he meant to bash the US I think his aim was off. The Roomba, besides being a real product and not just hot air, happens to have first rate design and software. An example of a useful product and not just fanboy technology for its own sake. For instance, consider AIBO. It may be a cool toy but damn it is expensive.

  11. Re:I'm still waiting for advance... by e2d2 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Hardware without software == paper weight.

    Advanced robots require software, some very sophisticated, some very simple. Just moving a robot in an environment can be quite challenging, hardware doesn't do this by itself.