In 1700, early physicist Wilhelm Leibniz believed that the brain may contain nothing but a series of “pumps, pistons, gears and levers working away.” It seems that with every biological advance, we are able to pass on these breakthroughs to autonomous robots that mimic how humans act but with a surprising degree of perfection. With every improvement in computer technology, robotics software becomes more affordable and more resourceful too. So what does the future of robotics look like?
Motor vehicle production is one area where robotics automation is already being used. Yet imagine a world where we can read, have a glass of wine, talk freely on our cell phones or take a nap while our personal automobile drives itself from our workplace to our doorstep. Or perhaps we’ll abandon the wheeled prototypes altogether and kick back in our personal flying car like numerous science fiction films predict. So how far are we from such a future? Well, in 2007, the US Defense Advanced Research Project Agency had 83 robotic system vehicles driving through a 60-mile urban course, navigating around other vehicles, pedestrians and obstacles; all without incident. Just three years ago, robotic vehicles couldn’t even drive straight across the wide-open desert without crashing. “The robotics industry is developing in much the same way the computer business did thirty years ago,” Microsoft founder Bill Gates observed.
More than one million industrial robots can be found in the workforce already, although nearly half of them are in Japan. The US has just 15% of the world’s working robots, with half of them employed at US auto plants (1 for every 10 human workers). Last year, there were 3,000 underwater recovery robots, 2,300 demolition robots, 1,600 surgical robots, 1,000 postal service robots and 12,500 domestic cleaning robots (which include vacuum robots and lawn mower robots). With improvements in method and affordability of vision sensors, intelligent robots will soon be working as product inspectors. Hospitals are rapidly incorporating autonomous robots into their staff, enlisting them to maneuver around hospitals, delivering tools or cleaning rooms. The future of robotics will ask the question, “What jobs do we have a shortage of? What jobs are undesirable for human workers? What jobs could benefit from programmable precision, accuracy and speed associated with robotics technology? What jobs can we alleviate to make way for more enjoyable tasks?”
The future of robotics is taking aim at the rapidly aging population, with the end goal of providing for the elderly in places like the US which will see 97 million baby boomers in need of care or in Japan, where 22% of the population is over 65. Currently $1 billion is spent each year researching how autonomous robots can care for the elderly. Secom’s “My Spoon” robot, for instance, can feed disabled people by breaking up food into chewable morsels and spooning it into their mouths. “Paro,” another Japanese invention, looks like a baby seal and responds to the affection of lonely elderly patients, while also monitoring their heart rate and health symptoms.
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