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Editorial
October 12, 1999
Talk to just about anyone about home
robots and you will inevitably hear the question, "Yeah, but will will it actually do?"
This editorial will help to answer that question.
| What Home Robots Can Do
Right Now |
Here are some benefits that home robots offer (or could offer)
today:
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Cleaning
Cye and the Carebot will vacuum the house, even if you're
not at home!
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Automated Hauling
Several home robots will carry dishes and other small loads from room to
room. A friend, recovering from hip surgery, used his Cye to carry food from the
kitchen to the living room, and the dirty dishes back into the kitchen again. Since
he was on crutches, this was a real lifesaver.
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Security
Home robots could easily be tied into a computerized home security system,
and the robot's mobility would allow more areas in the home to be protected.
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Alarm Clock
With a little work I will soon be able to use Cybert as an alarm clock.
Every morning he will roll into my bedroom and wake me up; once he senses that I'm
out of bed he will follow me into the bathroom and deliver up-to-the minute news, weather,
sports, and stock market information. |
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Home Automation
It would be a fairly easy task to connect a robot to an X10 home
automation system. The robot, linked to your PC, would then have access to lights,
security features, and more.
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Entertainment
Robotics is an exciting hobby for many people around the world. There are
countless clubs, websites, and books that have been written for those who are interested
in the topic.
Additionally, home robots can play games, tell jokes, sing songs, and even dance to
music!
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Education
Using a home robot like Cye not only teaches about robotics, it teaches
spatial navigation, mapping, ded reckoning, programming, and more.
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Hazard Detection
It would be fairly easy to attach fire, smoke, carbon monoxide, and other
detectors to a home robot. Every night the robot could "make the rounds" to
ensure that everything is okay.
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| What Home Robots will Be
Able To Do in the Future |
The technology and software are improving every year, and with
these advancements we will begin to see some very exciting home robot applications in the
next few years. By 2005 we should have robots capable of the following:
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Fetching
In a few years it should be possible to tell your home robot "Get me a
beer!" Using robot vision and an arm, the robot would navigate to the kitchen, open
the refrigerator door, grab a beer off a bottom shelf, close the door, and return.
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Plant Watering
Future robots could carry water in a storage container, and use this to
water plants, or even fill a pets bowl.
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Hazard Detection
It would be fairly easy to attach fire, smoke, carbon monoxide, and other
detectors to a home robot. Every night the robot could "make the rounds" to
ensure that everything is okay.
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Pest Control
Small robots may one day scurry around our homes at night, locating and smashing
cockroaches and other unwanted guests (no, I'm not talking about your mother-in-law.).
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Advanced Home Security and
Management
Robots in the near future will use advanced AI (artificial intelligence)
to monitor our homes, make sure everything is functioning properly and watch out for
intruders.
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Child Care
The technology already exists to use a robot to check on the kids while we are away
from the house. Probotics will soon add a camera and an Internet interface for Cye
that would allow someone to "drive" the robot around from a remote computer and
receive live pictures of everything that Cye
"sees".
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