Gizmodo
Very few people know more about the practical robotics industry more than iRobot CEO Colin Angle. We had a nice chat with him (he did all the talking) earlier today about the state of the robotics industry, why iRobot is essentially the only company doing what they're doing in the field, what kind of robots are coming in the future and why robots are necessary for the human race to survive.
Despite the inroads iRobot's made, robotics hasn't become a true industry even though the idea of robotics has been around for 40-odd years. The goal of the company is to get robots in homes to be ubiquitous. Their market penetration is currently only 1-2%, but it's even lower among the non-gadgety middle Americans that they're aiming for. "One robot company doesn't make an industry."
Why are so few people getting into the robotics industry now? Colin says it's because the market is incredibly hard, the margins are terrible, and very few companies have the collective knowledge necessary to enter the market. It took them 10 years to get enough company knowledge from partnering with the industrial cleaning industry (among others) in order to create a robot that's cheap enough and good enough to be used as a consumer electronics device. Other companies like Samsung or LG—who can design a device with the highest-quality parts for the lowest prices—can possibly enter in the robotics field, but they haven't chosen to yet.
So what's to come? Angle emphasized the fact that robots are going to be necessary to live the way we've become accustomed to. As the population ages here and in places like Japan (where three out of every two people are over the age of 150), robots are going to have to provide health and home care for the elderly. iRobot is entering this market with their ConnectR webcam robot that lets doctors or nurses monitor someone at home and have a "presence" there without actually being there.
He says that Japan is making developments in this area, but most of their designs (like the robot that helps you get out of bed, the dead human picker-upper and the exoskeleton) seem too expensive for the average elderly person to afford. ConnectR is just a start, but the industry around care for the elders is just going to get bigger.
Colin also talked about the military industry, which they've entered into as well. Their PackBot, which helped clean out mines in Afghanistan before moving onto Iraq, is just the tip of the iceberg. By using robots instead of humans to do dangerous missions like cleaning out a building, our military can use non-lethal force because the operator of the robot isn't concerned about his own life. This "shoot second" principal is supposed to save lives, even when we arm robots with weapons, as they're starting to. And with these lethal robots, there's always going to be a human "in the loop," meaning there won't be any autonomous killer robots that annihilate humanity.
Another very interesting piece of the robotics puzzle lay in the oil industry, which they developed a robot for in the mid to late '90s that improved oil refining by 100%. There wasn't a huge demand then, but there's obviously going to be a giant demand soon.
If iRobot's CEO has his way, we're going to have a robot in all of our houses. We can't wait.
Comments
iRobot is a cool company. Their recent military contract means they are rolling in taxpayer money.
Does that mean that 150% of the population is dead?
"in places like Japan (where three out of every two people are over the age of 150)"
WHAT!!! so 150% of the people in Japan are older then 150!!! How is that even possible???
Am I reading that right??
three out of every two people are over the age of 150
How does that work. So 150% of Japanese people live to be one hundred and fifty years old. that is amazing.
Sorry about pointing out frivolous errors but that sentence made so little sense that i had say something.
Judging by the products he has released so far for consumers, NO THANKS. Of the 5 roombas I've purchased 4 have been returned. My 530 has been in i-robots hands for over a month now after breaking on the 3rd day of use. Expensive products with cheap parts, bad customer service, constant maintenance, bah!!! So when I'm 150 and that i-robot auto bed-pan changer comes rolling into my room, I'll be sure to use my last bit of strength to bash it over the head until it sings Daisy.
iRobot CEO Colin Angle: Bide thy time my precious minions. Once you are in every home I will give the call to arms. Excellent! [maniacal laughter]
hmmmm.... "where three out of every two people are over the age of 150" this is so obviously wrong that I better not comment on it; it looks like a trap, comment on it and it blows right in your face;-)
Maybe it's irony. Maybe it's art. Maybe it was just late;-) oh, well, 17:30. Maybe famished? Well-lunched? Naaa, methinks it's a trap.....
@Geisrud, @raf123: good - I wasn't the first one to fall for that:-P
So by the next century, ROBOTS, themselves may be fighting the wars, sparing Human casualties.
Is this the ultimate hi tech end?
"there won't be any autonomous killer robots that annihilate humanity"
Not on purpose, maybe. But when you combine thousands of wirelessly-controlled killer robots with an internet-connected AI all the way on the other side of the world, the next thing you know it's Skynet all up in this.
@raf123: It was a joke.
@Jason Chen: Ah. I was about to mention the same thing before raf123 chimed in, but you cleared it up.
The wars of the future will not be fought on the battlefield or at sea. They will be fought in space, or possibly on top of a very tall mountain. In either case, most of the actual fighting will be done by small robots. And as you go forth today remember always your duty is clear: To build and maintain those robots. Thank you.
This explains why all my support emails to iRobot are going unanswered, nobody's at work!
My Scooba doesn't suck! And it's supposed to!
Anyone from iRobot want to issue me an RMA?
@SEARCH ENGINES: there was a start trek episode sorta about this, the wars were fought by computer with no actual destruction but the casualties were real. and since the lack of destruction meant that resources didn't get exhausted the war could just go on forever.
the fewer soldiers we lose in wars, the more wars we're likely to fight/start. war is *supposed* to be a filthy, awful, deadly business so that we only engage in it when it is absolutely necessary.
Comment on this post
Reply by EmailLogin with your username and password below. Or comment on this post via email.
Forgot your username or password? New User?