A domestic robot is a type of service robot, an autonomous robot that is primarily used for household chores, but may also be used for education, entertainment or therapy. Thus far, there are only a few limited models, though speculators, such as Bill Gates, have suggested that they could become more common in the future. Breakthroughs in universal picking, the ability for robots to rapidly and reliably grasp a diverse range of products, are responsible for enabling domestic robots to excel in tasks requiring dexterous manipulation of household objects previously thought to be too difficult for robots to grasp. While most domestic robots are simplistic, some are connected to WiFi home networks or smart environments and are autonomous to a high degree due to advances in fog computing and fog robotics. There were an estimated 3,540,000 service robots in use in 2006, compared with an estimated 950,000 industrial robots.

History
The concept of robot or robotics goes back many years, since the time of Aristotle. You can find automation references about 300 Years later, the polymath Da Vinci made a sketch of a machine with characteristics similar to that of a robot in the Renaissance.

Then, between 1700 and 1900, automation was developed for different tasks, this is where one of the first references of the domestic robot is located. In France, around 1889 – and as a cause of the turn of the century – different concepts of what life would be like in 2000 were presented. Among the possibilities, and represented through an image, the idea of a controlled artifact was raised. distance, which would be responsible for performing household chores, such as cleaning.

With the advance of the Industry, Henry Ford – in the year 1908 – implements automation to its production line of vehicles and with this fact the world manages to appreciate the power that it has. From this event, the idea of creating autonomous machines began to be strengthened, but it was not until 1932 that the first toy robot was created in Japan, baptized with the name of “Lilliput”, which had the ability to walk. Obviously, this robot did not have an industrial purpose, but it was made for recreation.

It is here that the concept of “service robots” and “domestic robot” begins to take hold, which is why the first automatons used for this purpose arise. These were shown as metal beings with human appearance, which were able to perform various tasks at home. At the same time, the idea of specialized robots in a single task arose, based on the design of remote-controlled lawnmowers.

But it was not until 1955, in the science fiction program ” Science Fiction Theater “, that the concept of specializing in one task robot is presented. In one episode a time traveler appeared, which had a “sonic broom”, which was a small robot vacuum cleaner, quite similar to the popular ones of today.

Over time, similar concepts of domestic robots specialized in a household task continued appearing, being the aspirating and cutting the grass the main tasks. During this time, the first dishwasher models are considered.

The idea of domestic robots became more common in Science Fiction, along with the idea of smart homes and smart cities. Where families were seen being assisted by their domestic robots when they were at home.

The development of different models of domestic robots began to grow arriving at the market at the end of the last century. In 2002, the well-known Roomba vacuum cleaner -which has been up to now- was launched and became one of the symbols of domestic robots today. Since then a large number of domestic robots have appeared and their influence is increasing in the market.

First concepts of domestic Robot
Throughout history, these were some of the earliest concepts of domestic robots:

Floor cleaners
1928-televox
1940-Roll-Oh
1949-George-the robot
1955-Sonic Broom

Gardeners
Alvin Lodge 1938-Remote-Controlled Lawn Mower
1949-George-the robot
1950-Jim Walker R / C Mower
1950-Grass Finder

In culture
Lt. Comm. Data is a Starfleet officer in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994). The episode that best explains who Data is was “The Measure of A Man”, Data, an android on the U.S.S. Enterprise is on trial to determine whether or not he is truly human. He likes to be seen as a human, not a robot.

In the Star Wars film series, robots of all shapes and sizes can be found assisting the humans with several tasks. C-3PO is a robot designed to assist humans in translation, and etiquette.

Many cartoons feature robot maids, notably Rosie the Robot from The Jetsons. Maid Robots are especially prominent in anime (in Japanese, they are called Meido Robo, Meido Roboto or meido robot), and their artificial intelligence ranges from rudimentary to fully sentient and emotional, while their appearance ranges from obviously mechanical to human-like.

The 2009 adaptation of Astro Boy, based on creator Osamu Tezuka’s Japanese anime Tetsuwan Atomu, showcases robots with various domestic functions. Orrin, with resemblance to the comedic, gold, humanoid companion, Starwars C-3PO, plays Dr. Tenma’s domestic robot performing various tasks such as housekeeping and tutoring to Dr. Tenma’s son, Toby.

A vignette, shown at the end of the final episode of Syfy’s failed 2010 Battlestar Galactica prequel TV series Caprica, features early models of Cylons serving as domestic and industrial robotic assistants for the human inhabitants of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, some five years prior to the revolt that precipitated the First Cylon War.

In the 2008 film Wall-E humans use sentient robots as trash compactors to clean up the mess they left behind on Earth. Wall-E is a small bulldozer-like robot who has claws for hands and spends all his time collecting garbage. Another robot named Eve is small, sleek, and can fly.

The 2012 movie Robot & Frank featured a domestic robot, the story of the movie centred on an elderly man and his relationship with a caretaker robot.

In Science Fiction
The idea of the domestic robots became known in the majority of the population through science fiction, where intelligent houses and robots that were in charge of the tasks of the home were shown. Automatons were observed destined to a particular task and, sometimes, to more than some. There are even human-looking robots, which can perform almost all household chores. These last robots are seen in films like “Stars Wars”, “The Bicentennial Man” or “I, robot”. In these films it is seen how C-3PO, Andrew and Sony with the Ns5 are robots with human appearances that could take care of all the tasks of the home. On the other hand, among the robots destined to a single task, we have as an example the “Sonic Broom” of “Science Fiction Theater”, the” Supersonic “vacuum cleaner and the” Teletubbies “vacuum cleaner.

You can also see domestic robots in literature, as for example in the texts of Isaac Asimov. In his writings -environmentalized in futuristic worlds- automatons focused on household tasks are common. In fact, it is not uncommon for events in his books to occur around robots. One of these texts is “Bicentennial Man” talking about a domestic robot that wants human being deeply related to the family where performing household chores. You can also see domestic robots in the series of stories “I, Robot” of Asimov.

Classes
There are a variety of domestic robots, so they are generally classified according to their tasks: 20

Robots to mope 21 and vacuum (robotic vacuum cleaner).
Mops Robots (scrubbers).
Robots washing clothes.
Ironing robots.
Robots that cook
Robots that serve food and drinks.
Robots washing dishes and kitchenware.
Surveillance robots.
Robots that cut the lawn.
Robots that clean walls and floor of a pool.
Some may be intended to serve the elderly or disabled (assistive robotics).

Indoor robots
This type of domestic robot does chores around and inside homes. Different kinds include:

Robotic vacuum cleaners and floor-washing robots that clean floors with sweeping and wet mopping functions. Some use Swiffer or other disposable cleaning cloths to dry-sweep, or reusable microfiber cloths to wet-mop.

Within the ironing robots, Dressman is a mannequin to dry and iron shirts using hot air. Other ones also includes manneqin for down parts (pants, trousers and skirts). More advanced ones fold and organizes the clothes, as Laundroid (using image analysis and artificial intelligence), Effie (irons 12 items of clothing at once) and FoldiMate.

Cat litter robots are automatic self-cleaning litter boxes that filter clumps out into a built-in waste receptacle that can be lined with an ordinary plastic bag.

Robotic kitchens include Rotimatic (which makes rotis, tortillas, puris out of flour in just few minutes), Moley Robotics MK1 and Prometheus delta robot.

Security robots such as Knightscope have a night-vision-capable wide-angle camera that detects movements and intruders. It can patrol places and shoot video of suspicious activities, too, and send alerts via email or text message; the stored history of past alerts and videos are accessible via the Web. The robot can also be configured to go into action at any time of the day.

Atlas is a robot built to perform in house task such as sweeping, opening doors, climbing stairs, etc. Robots such as Atlas can be utilized to making the average person’s day just that much more interesting and easy.

Related Post

Outdoor robots
A robotic lawn mower is a lawn mower that is able to mow a lawn by itself after being programmed. Once programmed, this invention repeats the operation by itself according to its programming. Robotic lawn mowers comes with a power unit which may be an electric motor or internal combustion engine. This provides power to the robot and allows it to move itself and its cutting blades. There is also a control unit which helps the mower move itself. This unit also contains a memory unit which records and memorizes its operation programming. Its memorized route includes the length of travel in a given direction and turn angles. This allows the same lawn to be mowed repeatedly without having to reprogram. The steering unit acquires an operation signal and propels the lead wheel, which leads the mower, go guide along the programmed route.

Some models can mow complicated and uneven lawns that are up to three-quarters of an acre in size. Others can mow a lawn as large as 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2), can handle a hill inclined up to 27 degrees.

There are also automated pool cleaners that clean and maintain swimming pools autonomously by scrubbing in-ground pools from the floor to the waterline in 3 hours, cleaning and circulating more than 70 US gallons (260 l) of water per minute, and removing debris as small as 2 µm in size.

Gutter-cleaning robots such as Looj use brushes and rubber blades to remove debris from rain gutters; users operate the device using a remote.

Window cleaning robots are most commonly used to clean outdoor windows, more specifically house windows. However, it may be used on other types of windows, such as ones on tall buildings and structures. This robot contains a movement system which allows the robot to navigate itself across the window surface in a defined direction. It also has a powered agitator located by the cleaning pad. When activated, the agitator gets rid of debris and dirt from the window surface. The cleaning pad directly interacts with the window surface and is directly responsible for removing the dirt by filling itself with specialized window cleaning fluid.

A window-washing robot commonly uses two magnetic modules to navigate windows as it sprays cleaning solution onto microfiber pads to wash them. It covers about 1,601 square feet (148.7 m2) per charge.

Toys
Robotic toys, such as the well known Furby, have been popular since 1998. There are also small humanoid remote controlled robots. Electronic pets, such as robotic dogs, can be good companions. They have also have been used by many universities in competitions such as the RoboCup.

Social robots
Social robots take on the function of social communication. Domestic humanoid robots are used by elderly and immobilized residents to keep them company.

Home-telepresence robots can move around in a remote location and let one communicate with people there via its camera, speaker, and microphone.

Network robots link ubiquitous networks with robots, contributing to the creation of new lifestyles and solutions to address a variety of social problems including the aging of population and nursing care.

Robots built for therapy have been in production for quite some time now. Some of these uses can be for autism or physical therapy.

Operation and Advances
Currently, the rapid development of technologies has helped the advances of robotics and, therefore, to domestic robots. The advances in the analysis of environmental data have improved the functionality of these, making them fulfill their work efficiently. Also, thanks to the processing of information, the problem of the performance zone has been overcome, since these robots must be able to fulfill their task and overcome obstacles in any type of environment, that is, in different types of architecture. The use of sensors and cameras to collect data is complemented by advances in information processing, thus achieving a large processing capacity in a small space. Then, with all the data processed, the accuracy with which they must perform their work is improved. An example of this is the “Roomba” dirt detector.

Sometimes RFID tags are used on objects, plates or utensils, since with a little information from the sensors the tasks can be done more efficiently. As a result, the robot knows where everything is and can learn tasks simply by observing the movements of the objects. In this way, setting the table is very simple, recognizing that the glasses and plates disappear from the table and the subsequent scrubbing is characterized by the same objects that disappear from the table and appear in the dishwasher or sink.

Another advance in this area of robotics is the way automata have to relate to human beings. Nowadays, robots have been able to receive commands through voice commands; you just have to say what to do and the robot starts its tasks. In addition to this, the robots have managed to establish more pleasant relationships with humans and have acquired more friendly appearances. Some are able to simulate human expressions and give more elaborate answers to the voice commands that are given to start their work. These are considered social robots.

The social robots as one of its main objectives have a good relationship with humans, mainly to please children. From this are born domestic companion robots, for children or anyone in the family. An example of these robots is “Buddy”, a social robot that is responsible for reminding people about their tasks, serves as an encyclopedia, answers calls and takes care of the house.

They have also designed domestic robots that are responsible for home security, conducting patrols when no one is at home or identifying if something is wrong, and then send some kind of alert to the owners of the premises.

Today there are many models of domestic robots, some of the most popular in their respective areas today are:

Roomba from iRobot Robot vacuum cleaner having multiple versions since 2002
Scooba from iRobot: Robot floor scrubber
Lawnbott: Robot lawn mower.
Droplet: Robot Garden irrigator
Grillbot: Robot cleaner grill
Litter-Robot: Pet Feeder
Jibo: Social Robot (static)
Moley: Robot chef
Buddy: Social robot (Mobile) that gives reminders, contains information about different things, answers calls and takes care of the house.
Spotmini by Boston Dynamics: A highly stable quadruped robot that can pick up and move things.
Pepper de Aldebaran Robotics and Softbank Mobile: Social robot with a great capacity for interaction and recognition of emotions, mainly to assist at home and give company to people.
Samsung: Your line of vacuum cleaners and sweepers robots

Robocup @ Home
The Robocup is the largest robotics competition in the world. This was founded in 1997 and seeks to promote the development of robotics and artificial intelligence through different tests that teams must perform.

This competition is divided into different categories, among which is the Robocup @ Home category. The Robocup @ Home, added in the 2006 edition of the competition, is the category that focuses on autonomous robots of daily life and the relationship between robots and human beings.

This category of the Robocup is intended for domestic robots and their development, every year the teams improve the hardware and software of their service robots to overcome the different tests and see which service robot is the best. The tests consist of situations in people’s daily lives, which the robots must try to execute, such as serving food or taking out the garbage from a house. In addition, this category evaluates social skills of robots, so it also empowers social robots.

The main challenges that these robots must overcome are summarized in: human-robot interaction, navigation and mapping in different environments, vision and object recognition, manipulation of elements, adaptive behavior, behavioral integration, environmental intelligence and standardization and systems integration.

Some of the robotics teams that stand out in this category at present are:

ToBI
WrightEagle @ Home
TechUnited Eindhoven
KameRider
Homer @ UniKoblenz
tinker
eR @ sers
golem

Market
Due to the decrease in production costs of domestic robots, these are no longer exclusive access for millionaires. The prices of these are accessible to a large number of users. In addition, the market offers a wide variety of robots to choose from, with different skills and abilities.

Domestic or service robots are classified separately from the wide variety of robots that exist, due to their place of performance. These have generated a massive market with different prices and sales channels.

The number of domestic robots sold in 2013 is approximately 2,500. This figure, during 2015, amounted to 26,000 according to the IFR (International Federation of Robotics). 55 The growing technological advance generates new models and improvements of the current robots every second, so there is a wide variety of options in the market of these, which perform different tasks. Some vary in the type of technology used in them. This generates a greater number of users, depending on their needs.

According to market research, worldwide sales of domestic and service robots will grow by 23.5% per year between 2015 and 2020.

Source from Wikipedia

Share