Saturday, July 09, 2005
The HOAP gets big, Forbes article on luxury robots
Fujitsu has moved up in size with their HOAP series. According to an article on the Tech Japan website, the latest incarnation is now 3 feet tall, weighs about 18 pounds, and is more sophisticated internally. Unlike earlier models, there is an integrated, on-board computer controlling its motion (HOAP 1 and 2 were connected to a PC). However, the robot may still be controlled from a PC via wireless connection. The system has several new sensors, making it more truly a mobile robot than an industrial system.
Fujitsu provides software to develop programs for the system (under Linux) and appears to be targeting the research and educational community with this model.
In other news, consumer robotics has finally caught the notice of Forbes Magazine, which recently ran an article on luxury robots. Once again, the article cites the gap between what robot developers do ("make a cool robot") versus what consumers actually want (something that cleans the floor without my thinking about it. With this in mind, the article reviews the current crop of robotic pets, vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers and floor cleaners. The article concludes by quoting Dan Kara of Robotic Trends, who says that the luxury items of today will be mass-market in 5 years or so.
While this does seem bound to happen to some extent, I suspect the market for special-purpose robots may remain small. Compared to a PC (which can run a variety of software allowing it to do many things) these robots are single-purpose systems. The lure of a robot butler is not its humanlike appearance, but an expectation that it will be able to do a wide variety of tasks just as a human can. Even with recent advances in walking and running robots, this may be a ways off.
Fujitsu has moved up in size with their HOAP series. According to an article on the Tech Japan website, the latest incarnation is now 3 feet tall, weighs about 18 pounds, and is more sophisticated internally. Unlike earlier models, there is an integrated, on-board computer controlling its motion (HOAP 1 and 2 were connected to a PC). However, the robot may still be controlled from a PC via wireless connection. The system has several new sensors, making it more truly a mobile robot than an industrial system.
Fujitsu provides software to develop programs for the system (under Linux) and appears to be targeting the research and educational community with this model.
In other news, consumer robotics has finally caught the notice of Forbes Magazine, which recently ran an article on luxury robots. Once again, the article cites the gap between what robot developers do ("make a cool robot") versus what consumers actually want (something that cleans the floor without my thinking about it. With this in mind, the article reviews the current crop of robotic pets, vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers and floor cleaners. The article concludes by quoting Dan Kara of Robotic Trends, who says that the luxury items of today will be mass-market in 5 years or so.
While this does seem bound to happen to some extent, I suspect the market for special-purpose robots may remain small. Compared to a PC (which can run a variety of software allowing it to do many things) these robots are single-purpose systems. The lure of a robot butler is not its humanlike appearance, but an expectation that it will be able to do a wide variety of tasks just as a human can. Even with recent advances in walking and running robots, this may be a ways off.
