Consumer Robotics is Hot. Confidence is Way Up

Picture this: you wake up in the morning and decide that you'd like to get some chores done before you even leave the bed. From your smartphone, you open up some apps that control several different systems in your home - from lighting, to cleaning, and even to cooking and entertainment. You choose the cleaning app, and assign some of your friendly home robots to set to vacuuming, mopping the floor, dusting, and setting the place to rights. Sound like science fiction? Not at all, with the way that consumer robotics is growing in today's economy. Yesterday's fiction is today (or the near future)'s reality. In 2014, Robotic Business Review asked whether or not the future of robotics is already here and growing. 47 percent of those surveyed answered a resounding yes. It's not hard to see why. The growth in this industry is projected at 17 percent per year in the coming years, with people already using different domestic robots and the artificial intelligences that are found in smart phones, such as Google Now and Siri for Apple. The increase in use stems from advances in NLP, natural language processing, as well as autonomous programming to allow robotics to make their own choices. The better use of NLP means that you can speak in a normal way to voice recognition enabled technologies, and have them understand you - just as another person would. This leap in technology will bring robotics, and artificial intelligence into the mainstream, as it is much more user friendly. Additionally, people are willing to pay for personal robots, and more than before - with an average amount cited as around $4,425 per robot, if said robots were available. This showcases the fact that people are more than willing to invest in these new technologies - and that companies would be wise to invest in creating more consumer friendly robotics. People are also looking at the idea of home healthcare robots as a distinct possibility, with those surveyed in 2014 willing to spend over $10,000 for a robot able to take over some of the tasks of a home healthcare aide. The confidence in a robot to take care of some of life's most important tasks - the care of invalids and elderly, shows a marked increase in people's interest and trust in consumer robotics. 52 percent of the individuals surveyed indicated that consumer robots provide a good alternative to human labor. A final look at today's consumer robots shows that home use robots are a definite probability in the near future. Look at JIBO - stated to be the world's first family robot. Funded with $25.3 million, this robot, which would be able to understand language, would be able to help out as a personal assistant, use facial recognition for tailor-made programming, and also complete many tasks with intuitive learning. This high amount of funding, even before the robot has been released, shows that investor and consumer confidence in robotics is growing. You might not have a robot running your home just yet - but the robot revolution is upon us. Before long, we may be able to automate all of those tiny and time consuming tasks, while allowing us more free time and less hassle. Consumer robotics will soon be the way to lead us to a less stressful life.