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Robots make themselves at home

By Staff, CNET News.com on August 16, 2009

Summary

Find out the latest in home-cleaning technology and more

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In the Will Smith movie "I, Robot", the robots are humanoid and menacing. In the real world of you and me and the company iRobot, the machines are much more...ordinary.

The Roomba 560 vacuum cleaner from iRobot, seen here, is typical of commercial robots at the dawn of the 21st century--it's a bit of a drudge. But that's also why the company has sold more than 3 million of the autonomous floor-cleaning bots, the first of which appeared in 2002; they've got a job to do, and they do it well.

And you can expect a lot more chore-minded robots moving in to homes and workplaces in the not-too-distant (and not-so-sci-fi) future, as prices come down and capabilities go up. (The Roomba 650 sells for US$380.) NextGen Research has estimated that the worldwide market for consumer-oriented service robots will hit US$15 billion by 2015. Says Paolo Pirjanian, CEO of software maker Evolution Robotics: "We want floor care to be the same as the sprinkler system for the lawn--set it up once, move on, forget about it."

Photo by iRobot
Credit: Jonathan Skillings

Tackling the dull, dirty, routine maintenance tasks, iRobot has done well for itself among U.S. consumers and is making gains overseas, even to the point of inspiring Roomba knock-offs aplenty in places like Hong Kong.

Besides the Roomba and variants (for workshops and for pet-filled households), iRobot has robots for washing the floor (the Scooba), cleaning the pool (the Verro), and getting the leaves out of the gutters (the Looj, seen here in action--the price ranges from $70 to $130).

The company also has a well-established government and industrial division, best known for the PackBot robots used for finding and neutralizing explosives in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Photo by iRobot
Credit: Jonathan Skillings

Back inside the house, a gadget like WowWee's US$299 Rovio can help you keep tabs on things or just stay connected while you're away. It can be programmed to recognize "waypoints" that you establish so that it can tool around on its own, but like a lot of today's robots, the Wi-Fi- and Webcam-equipped Rovio is meant to be remote-controlled; you steer it around the house from your office PC or your laptop while on the road.

In addition, the robotics industry has identified elder care as a field ripe for smart gadgetry. Gear like the Rovio that provides "telepresence" could help people check in on their aging relatives and help older folks stave off isolation.

Photo by WowWee
Credit: Jonathan Skillings

Lego Mindstorms robots give the appearance of being a cross between a humanoid and an Erector set, and they're also at the intersection of two key areas for consumer robotics: toys and education.

The NXT Intelligent Brick at the heart of the US$249 kit includes a 32-bit microprocessor and an array of other PC capabilities, including Bluetooth and USB 2.0 support. Users don't have to build something humanoid--the Lego Mindstorms Web site also shows a more scorpionlike bot...

Photo by Lego
Credit: Jonathan Skillings

As cameras and sensors continue to establish themselves in household robots, they're also bringing robotic technology to someplace consumers wouldn't necessarily expect: their next car. Right now, that technology has appeared in just a handful of higher-end models, but there's no reason to think that it won't soon be as commonplace as cruise control, power steering, and multi-CD changers.

For the 2008 model year, the Infiniti EX35, with a starting price of US$34,850, showed up on the scene with a "lane departure prevention system" featuring cameras that keep an eye on roadway markings; if the cameras detect a drift, the system activates the antilock braking system on the opposite side to bring the car back on track.

Photo by CNET
Credit: Jonathan Skillings

The 2007 Lexus LS 460L (base price: US$71,000), meanwhile, features Toyota's self-parking technology (which had appeared earlier on the Prius in Europe and Japan)--the car identifies a parking space and then steers itself into the spot, with the driver operating the brakes. Ford recently unveiled a similar Active Park Assist feature that uses ultrasonic sensors, due as an option for Lincoln MKS and MKT models later this year.

And Volvo lately has been showing off an XC60 model that uses a forward-facing laser to detect objects that might be blocking the way. If the driver doesn't brake or turn quickly enough, the car itself hits the brakes. (There's also apparently a radar-based variant.)

Photo by CNET
Credit: Jonathan Skillings

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