Study Says 4.1M Domestic Robots In Use By 2007

jangobongo writes "The U.N.'s annual World Robotics Survey for 2004 predicts that there will be a seven-fold surge in household robots by the end of 2007. Robots that mow your lawn, vacuum, wash windows, clean swimming pools, as well as entertainment robots such as Aibo are all vying to take a place in our homes and ease our workload. The study says that Japan is the leader in consumer robotics, with Europe and North America quickly catching up."

perspective pleeze

[lottameez]

From the article: "robots will ...carry out surgery..."

And you people are worried about e-voting? How about e-i-just-lost-my-ear-lobe-due-to-a-software-glitch -in-the-dr.-kildare-robot?

The future...comming soon

[ROBOGriff]

More importantly, this further proves we are getting closer to a world like I Robot and Matrix. Remember to be kind to your robots.

Robot surgeons? We'll need 'em

[The I Shing]

Thanks to years of inactivity caused by having robots do all our work for us, in the end we'll be carried out of our houses by robot paramedics and taken to the robot hospital to have our clogged-up human hearts removed and replaced with robot hearts by the robot surgeons.

Isn't that kind of how the Cybermen got going? Will the Doctor have to stop us from trying to take over the universe?

alternative article on UN report...with more links

[museumpeace]

2004.10.20: UN predicts much wider use of robots
An Associated Press report [via yahoo] of United Nations Study on robots [yahoo.com] is predicting robust increases in the use of robots both for both domestic and industrial uses. If you googled [google.com] for this news you would find similar reports each year going back a ways. Here is the PDF straight from the UN. [unece.org] What makes this news is that its the UN talking, not some manufacturer's press release and that the numbers are more sanguine than ever:

"There are now some 21,000 "service robots" in use, carrying out tasks such as milking cows, handling toxic waste, ferrying medicine around hospitals and assisting surgeons. The number is set to reach a total of 75,000 by 2007, the study says."

But is there a job in this "boom" for any of us?

For comparison here is last year's report, tidied up by your favorite submitter, Roland Click-appeal [weblogs.com] [hey, at least he RTFA!].

Any different when a human screws up?

[SmallFurryCreature]

Their are countless studies showing the deathtoll because of medical screwups. Depending on who you believe the number is insanely high. Those stories about people having the wrong bit amputated are not jokes or urban legends. They are common place.

Sure a badly programmed bot can do the same with one tiny little difference. Once a bug has been fixed it will be fixed in all the bots forever. Doctors make the same mistake over and over again no matter how many times they are told not to.

Robot, it ain't what you think it is

[(SM) Spacemonkey]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot [wikipedia.org]
At first this may seem a pointless karma whore link to wikipedia, but I have a point.

When you talk to the average person about Robots, they think of that terrible Robin Williams movie, or more recently I,Robot (the movie, not the terrific book). The point is, the term "robot" conjures up thoughts of artifical humans. However the strick definition of a robot is a machine automated to perform tasks in the place of humans. This is why I get disappointed reading articles like this, I go in with the anticipation of every geek. "Sex robots by 2007!" Ok maybe female geeks want cuddle robots... Anyway instead we get stuck with.... lawn mowers, and pretend dogs?

Robots for autistic childeren

[SmallFurryCreature]

Saw a bit on tv about robots designed to deal with autistic childeren. These kids find human interaction far to complex to the point where they just give up and stay in their own world.

What they need is something to play with them but in an extremely simple ruleset. They don't understand lies and half-lies let alone jokes. Human caretakers can't descend that low (we are talking well below the social skills of even a pet) but robots can. They can be programmed with a very simple ruleset of play and repeat this over and over again.

So for these kids at least the future of robotic playmates is now. They don't need massive advances in AI, the exact opposite infact. The total predictabilty of current AI is exactly what they need.

Re:Fat lazy Americans...

[erick99]

This point is more valid than most would think. For a lot of people who have office jobs and don't go to a gym or otherwise actively excercise, yard work and housework are their best chances of getting some excercise. If we get to the point that robots are ubiquitous, than we have to do something to prevent the majority of our population from dying from pressure sores from not moving. Okay, a bit of an exaggeration but it will still be a problem.

As a disabled person myself

[pair-a-noyd]

I would like to have some of the auto-cleaning robots, like the roomba [sharperimage.com]
and the Robomaid [therobomaid.com]

to help me out around the house. It's almost impossible for me to do housework. Having a large dog makes housework even harder, what with the hair problem. I can not sweep, vacuum, mop, etc..

I think they should classify these devices as assistance devices for disabled/handicapped people because I can't afford them as I'm sure many other disabled/handicapped are on very tight budgets like myself. It would be nice to get them covered like scooters and wheelchairs are..

I won't be holding my breath though..

Re:Query?

[LiquidCoooled]

Crude joke maybe, but certainly not a troll.

Imagine an insect sized bug wandering around grooming, shaving stubble, removing dead skin, cleansing your pores all like a roomba.

Going to sleep stubbly and waking up with clean unclogged hair and a smooth chin. Or just let it work whilst your watching tv or sitting in your cube.

Simple AI would allow it to tell the difference between stubble and long specific hair thats meant to exist, heck it could even do as the parent suggests and trim your pubes.

It could even scan for other skin related problems whilst its there.

For everyone yicked out by the thought of this, remember the world is full of symbiotic creatures, whales and sharks have cleaner fish which do a similar job, whilst I would also get the eeby-geebies about having insects crawling on me, I don't seem to have a problem with letting a robot do the job.

Re:maybe it's just me

[lonely]

I bought a refurbed rowbot machine a month or so ago and it does my garden a treat. The wirling blades are underneath and it is stuff with kit that makes the blades stop should anything come near.

Mind you the cats seem to be quite affraid of it.

Re:What is a robot?

[Preferred Customer]

A system that operates "closed loop" is more robot-like than one that operates "open loop". A closed loop system compares a measurement to a setpoint and adjusts a system variable to minimize the difference between the measurement and the setpoint. I've spent time developing and testing PID process controllers and it's fascinating to watch them operate. They seem eerily human.

By my definition, though, a toilet is a robot.

Re:What is a robot?

[Boronx]

The more you you can anthropomorphise an automated machine, the more of a robot it is.

Or, rather, the more we see it as animated, the more robotic it is. A cockroach robot is animated, but it ain't anthropomorphic.

Take those little Robie coin-eating robots from Radioshack. They're robots. Now, imagine you've encased Robie in an opaque box with a coin slot in it.

Robie behaves exactly the same, but we don't see it. It's no longer a robot, it's just a piggie bank that makes a whirring sound.