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All through the ages,
humans have strived for improving their
homes and life styles. We have come far
in our quest for home advancement, but
only recently have we turned to robotic
technology for our advancements. We
currently have a few robots to help us
with our tasks, such as robotic
lawnmowers and vacuum cleaners, but we
are still far from the Jetsons’ idea of
a robotic maid.
Starting with our
current robotic help, we have the
robotic lawnmower. It is about the size
of a large remote control car and
operates by itself with programming.
First, you have to put wire around your
yard and any parts that you don’t want
cut. These wires will keep the mower on
your lawn and out of your flower beds.
Then all there is left to do is press go
and the “robo mower” takes off mowing.
The greatest part is that, when it’s
done, it drives itself back to its
charging station and charges itself for
future use. In addition, you can
actually program the mower to run on a
weekly basis. So once you set it up, it
will cut every week at the same time,
without you touching a button, then it
will drive itself back to the charging
station and charge.
Next on our list of
robotic maids is the robotic vacuum.
There are many different brands of
sweeper in the market, ranging from $50
to $1,500, but they all generally work
the same. The top seller is the Roomba
Red therefore we will concentrate on its
operation and specifications. The Roomba
Red is a round disk approximately 33
centimeters in diameter and 9
centimeters tall. The low height allows
for easy access underneath furniture,
something that a normal vacuum cannot
do. Still, the Roomba Red along with
other robotic vacuums is not meant to
replace normal vacuuming. They are meant
to lengthen the time between major
manual cleanings. This is mainly because
of the way that the units clean.
Yes, the robotic
vacuum cleaner and the robotic lawnmower
are great, but they fall far short of
human dreams of a smart home. A home
that can anticipate all your wants and
needs and take care of you better than
you can yourself. Is any of this even
conceivably possible in real life, or is
our easy computerized lifestyle just a
thing for the movies?
Before we can consider
whether the smart home and robotic maids
are possible, there are a number of
constraints that must be addressed:
interaction, locomotion, navigation,
manipulation, and intelligence.
Interaction is a major
aspect of the robotic helper. The robot
of the future needs to be able to ask
questions and talk with its owner, thus
allowing for more comprehensive control
and a more efficient robotic maid. It
also needs to be compatible with face
recognition in order to interact more
efficiently with the owners.
Another major problem
confronting robotic engineers is the
question of how our robots should move
(locomotion). If we were to equip them with
wheels, they would have an easy time of
balancing. However, they would have a
difficult time of traveling up stairs and
around obstacles. If we were to give them
legs, like humans, there would be a problem
with programming balance. Robots simply
cannot have our mental abilities to
immediately adjust to different terrain.
The problem with
programming robotic movement is giving the
robot the choice of how to navigate around.
For instance, if there are items in the
robot’s path, it must have the capability
to choose how to make its way through the
obstacles. It also must have the proper
programming for walking (or rolling)
through the objects in its way. There also
comes the problem of someone walking in
front of the robot. It must be able to
react quickly to the sudden change.
The robotic designers
must also consider item manipulation. If
our robots are going to work correctly,
they must know how to manipulate the amount
of power needed to grasp any given object.
They must be able to adjust their strength
so they do not crush an object; and yet, at
the same time, must know when to use more
force for a heavier object.
The robots we develop
must also have a high level of
intelligence. Their intelligence must allow
them to make decisions and perform tasks to
the highest standard, and yet their
development must be limited. If our home
robots were to become too intelligent, they
could begin doing tasks we did not even
want done that they determined were
necessary.
So, we come back to
the same question. Are we really anywhere
near the effortless home of the movies or
are we still centuries away? With the
development of simpler robotic technologies
such as the lawnmower and vacuum, we have a
steady base to build upon and advance our
robotic maids to the point of reaching that
movie-perfect world. In our opinion we’re a
lot closer than it seems.
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