A few tech demos can match the spectacle of robotics. Even as the field becomes increasingly prevalent in a wide range of industrial workplaces, mechatronics doing impressive things will never cease to amaze. For many, the mere presence of a robot is shorthand for the future, and for large electronics companies, it’s a quick and simple method of letting shareholders and customers know that your company is still innovating.
Whether these bots actually lead to marketable products is almost beside the point. As long as you have other real products coming to market in the coming months, these futuristic demos can disappear for anyone interested. Remember that Samsung robot chef debuted at CES 2020? It was about a month before COVID engulfed the world, so probably not.
But he did what he needed to and – as far as we know – he’s gone. At least Ballie’s “return” showed that Samsung hasn’t lost interest in the home robot. The spherical home patrol robot, which now includes a projector, is—at least—a more realistic vision for home robots in the near term. While I certainly wouldn’t bet good money on the thing ever making it to market here, in Korea, or anywhere else, the Ballie is a perfectly doable goal.
Whether it’s a good target is another question. I firmly believe that the home robot has life beyond the Roomba. So why — after 20+ years — do we have little more than a bunch of robotic vacuums to show for it? It’s one of those simple questions with deceptively complex answers. Functionality is a big part. Most robots in this world have a single purpose. They are designed to do a certain thing over and over until they can’t anymore.
After years of banging their heads against the wall, iRobot came up with the first Roomba in late 2002. It was an idea so good that no one has done it since. Instead, tens of millions of dollars conservatively go into R&D at countless companies aiming to create a better robotic vacuum. And yes, today’s Roombas are vast improvements over their forebears. They’re smarter, have a better sense of space, have figured out how to mop, and — most importantly — won’t track animal poop on your carpet.
Security has long been used as a second killer app for the home. The idea makes a lot of sense at first glance. Why settle for a Ring Cam when you can get a Ring Cam with wheels? (Of course there are many good reasons for this, but that’s beside the point.) This was the main selling point behind Amazon’s Astro. The bot’s lack of success is largely due to limited functionality combined with a prohibitive price. It’s a combination that Ballie will almost certainly suffer from if it comes to market.
Matic’s vacuum uses a series of cameras to map spaces — and understand where it is in them. Image Credits: Matic
Unfortunately, I was only able to make it to two meetings at this year’s CES due to illness. One, however, happens to be very relevant to this particular conversation. Matic is — for most intents and purposes — another robot looking to make a name for itself in a very crowded space. The reason we covered the company’s launch in November and why I agreed to meet with them this week is a combination of their unique approach to the category, as well as the pedigrees of its founders and financial backing from informed sources.
What excited me during our conversation is that the company has essentially built a home robotics platform that seems to be pretty good at vacuuming and mopping. I was thinking of it a bit like Nvidia’s Nova Carter mobile reference bot. In the process of clearing houses, you become better and better at navigating using the built-in vision system. If Matic or someone else nails the home equivalent of Level 5 autonomy, you have a great foundation for additional functionality.
But what exactly will the silver bullet be? The smart money is another job people hate to do, but the current factory still has too many limitations. An affordable, sturdy mobile handle is another one of those amazingly complex issues that many people have been working on for a long time. But as with the world of autonomous robotic mobile warehouse, it’s easy to imagine how attaching a handle to one opens up a new world of functionality.
You’d probably want this robot to reach up and cross stairs. You can start with a drone base – which addresses the mobility issue well – but the payloads, and therefore the functionality, are still very limited unless you want something the size of a Honda Civic floating around your house.
Naturally, we end up where we often do these days. You start by sticking hands and then you bring feet. Suddenly you’re looking at something that looks a lot more like yourself. This is a big reason why many roboticists just can’t let go of humanoids. Even more than factories and warehouses, our homes are made for ourselves, so we watch that we would build something that looks like us to navigate these spaces.
Of course, no one is ready to have a serious discussion about hominids at home just yet. There have been plenty of duds, of course, but no one is expecting a commercially available humanoid general-purpose household robot this year. Again, there are several reasons. The first and most obvious is the price. Enterprise still makes a lot more sense in the short term. Companies have deep pockets and will spend big if they think they will save them in the end. The demand for industrial automation has also been proven time and again.
Warehouses are also generally easier to navigate than houses. At the end of the day, they are significantly more structured and uniform. Also, each of these robots is going to enter the workforce with only one job. They will do it repeatedly until they perfect it and then it can learn another job. In most cases, however, in most factories and warehouses, there is too much repetitive work around the clock to keep these systems busy for a long time. After Roomba, consumers will demand home robots that can do more.
Image Credits: Robotic Intuition
The other big question mark in all of this is genetic AI. It was bandied about at CES to the point of losing almost all meaning, and there are days when I’m annoyed with myself for adding to that chorus. But genetic AI will have a profound impact on robotics, period. There are many different areas, but at least two—learning and natural language—lead back to eventual general purpose systems. The bad news, however, is that optimistic projections put this roadmap out for about five years, at least.
This was a big year for robotics at CES. At the same time, we’re disappointingly no closer to ubiquitous home robots than we were at the same time last year. That’s not to say the short-term roadmap doesn’t have interesting projects. For something more realistic than a chicken in every pot and two Teslabots in every garage, we should look to the space of age technology. The AARP accelerator (which, along with Samsung was the but meeting I was able to get this year) does a good job of shining a spotlight on this category.
Japan always comes up in every discussion around the category because the country has been ahead of the rest of the world due to its aging population. Bots are a big part of that. So far, they seem to be less prevalent in the wider technology age bracket, but there is plenty of room to navigate. Most of these devices are aimed at finding ways for the elderly to continue living independently. It’s easy to see the role that robots can – and will – play.
In previous years, we’ve highlighted Labrador’s utility cart system. This year, we saw the return of the robotic desk assistant ElliQ. If I were looking for a way to bring robots into the home right now, that’s exactly the demographic I’d be targeting. And not to be too dumb about it, but Baby Boomers currently control 70% of the nation’s disposable income. Not a bad place to start if you ask me.
