AFTER decades of hype and disappointment, robots are at last finding their way into our homes on a grand scale. The UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in Geneva has released figures showing that worldwide sales of robots designed to carry out domestic chores and for home entertainment tripled in 2002. This year, it says, sales should outstrip the total number of industrial robots for the first time.
The UNECE defines robots as machines that are autonomous, programmable and mobile 鈥� or have a moving arm. They have been used in industry for many years, for example for making cars, but have till now been too expensive, and not useful enough, to catch on among consumers, the commission says in its report World Robotics 2003 published last week.
In 1999, for example, the Swedish home appliance manufacturer Electrolux launched the first robotic vacuum cleaner, called the Trilobite. Resembling a cake tin on wheels, this automaton could roam about the house sucking up dirt while avoiding the objects in its way. But the Trilobite cost about 拢1600, almost 10 times as much as a normal vacuum cleaner, and never sold in large numbers.
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But things are changing, says Jan Karlsson, who carried out the survey on which World Robotics 2003 is based. The driving force is the reduction in the cost of robots that can carry out domestic chores such as vacuuming and mowing the lawn. At the start of 2002, for example, the Massachusetts-based robot maker iRobot launched a vacuum cleaner called Roomba that does almost the same thing as the Trilobite but costs only $199 (拢120). iRobot鈥檚 sales have boomed, says Karlsson.
Colin Angle, co-founder of iRobot, agrees that domestic robots have been expensive in the past. 鈥淧rice has been the bane of the industry.鈥� While the cost of computer components has dropped dramatically, robot makers reacted by packing their devices with more sensors, which keeps costs high. He says iRobot鈥檚 trick was to cut the number of sensors and rely instead on smarter software to get about.
The trend towards cheaper, less complex devices means that robotic butlers that run around after us are likely to remain a fantasy, says Luc Steels, a roboticist at the Sony Computer Science Laboratory in Paris. Instead, he predicts that there will be more interest in robots similar to Sony鈥檚 Aibo robotic dog and the prototype dancing humanoid Asimo, made by Honda.
The UNECE survey shows that entertainment robots outsold those designed to do domestic chores three times over. This, says Steels, is because their purpose is less defined, so it is more difficult for them to fail or disappoint.
As prices come down, Steel believes the robots鈥� personas will become as important as their roles, in much the same way that characters from computer games have become cultural icons.
The other difference with entertainment robots is that they are aimed at children, Karlsson says. 鈥淧arents realise that the future is in digital technology and maybe even automation,鈥� he says. They buy these robots as educational toys that they see as an investment in their children鈥檚 future.
If Karlsson is right and this trend continues, parents will have to dig deep. The Aibo robotic dog costs 拢1400 and a humanoid robot called the Sony SDR-4X due for launch later this year will cost as much as a luxury car.
