A practical robotic application?

Oh, I don't know, maybe someday somebody will invent a robot that performs repetive mechanical assembly tasks?

JM

Funny, maybe I should have been more specific, mobile autonomous robots.

there are so many things you can make a mobile robot do, to make it marketable.

Any/every standalone electronic device can be integreted.

that's all I'm going to say :-) I found someone to mass produce my robot.

Rich

I think robots for educational usage is practical. Robot is very good thing for education. And I think some entertainment robots, such as Sony's, are also practical. BTW, there are many robot without real form , like internet robot, are widely used now.

I honestly think that two immediate possibilities are:

1. An intelligent platform to carry things for you. There would be two modes of operation: a) an rf command link mode and b) a "follow-me" mode. There are some problems that will not be overcome immediately, like going upstairs, but for the most part, I would love something that would help carry something for me down the street. So would many of the many other disabled persons in the world. Just having the robot doing something as simple as passing the tv remote control over to my wife who is sitting across the living room from me, a little bit of a hassle as we are both disabled. Likewise, the robot could carry a beer that your wife put on it while she's in the kitchen. This could be done semi-autonomously.
2. An intelligent platform to carry your garbage to the curbside. In our situation, it would take the garbage can from the backyard, though a gate, to the curb and then back when emptied. It doesn't seem too hard a task. While I am sure there would be more to it, it seems like the scenario I have just described could be done by setting the robot on a timer to use "line following" to go to the curb and when the weight of the robot dropped under a certain weight (i.e. it was emptied), it would "line follow" back to where it came from. Of course, you would have to have all sorts of sensors, IR, Ping, bumper switches, and cameras even to do the job right (or maybe overkill the job). It could be a fun project. I have a special interest in this because of disabilities and this would definately help.

I think these are two practical ideas for bot that are well within the current technology capabilities.

You might want to look up "Global Hawk".

I would see machines as compensating for disabilities rather than doing the work for a disabled person simply because they are disabled. Sure buy a Roomba, not because you can't vaccuum, but because you have better things to do.

If I live long enough to get old I will probably end up in a wheel chair. I would like a wheel chair that gave me independence, including the ability to take the rubbish bin (garbage can) to be emptied, vaccum the floor and shower myself etc.

How much intelligence a robotic nurse required would vary with each user.

-- JC

So many different sectors for robotic applications, but the only one where some real cash is being made (but not loads) is residential floor sweeping. There's a good market segmentation at

that shows a neat graphic with robotic markets, and such.

Interesting that the lawn mower action of a few years ago has petered out

- I assume that the risk of a $500 piece of hardware on your lawn when nobody is around is the big issue.

I think I agree with others that some sort of capitalization on aging baby-boomers is a good market opp. But seniors right now are too technophobic to entertain anything that hasn't been very carfully engineered for that space.

George T.

I found the report fairly lacking, actually -- but thanks for the link. Just one example: They missed the very real market segment currently developed in Japan (and non-existent in the US) of elder-care/nurse robotics. These can't be grouped as "personal" robots as that market suggests smaller, cheaper machines -- these are fairly large and expensive, and intended to be used in controlled environments of nursing homes and hospitals. I don't think the report intended these to be in the institutional category, as they (somehow) define that as slow growth and small investment. I cannot fathom how a medical/surgical robot needs only a small investment. Guess this must be the plantar wart remover robot we've been hearing about.

The report contains silly typos, like spelling "hobbyist" as "hobbiest." Hard to take a consulting firm seriously when they don't bother to use a spell checker. Well, at least the report is free!

-- Gordon

Gordon McComb wrote: ...

Think how spell checkers would have saved Americans from spelling mistakes like "color" instead of "colour".

Spelling mistakes give us an insight into how the brain works and also allows spelling to evolve, until the thought police invented the dictionary :-)

-- JC

Typo's are certa "Convenient in-house macro training is available at your site. Casses can be one-on-one, or a class/seminar setting (fewer than 12 students highly recommended).

Typo's like that would be pretty silly, and frankly hard to imagine, especially if I was obsessed with typos elsewhere.

~L~

Ooh, boy, do I feel stupid! (Not!)

So what are some of the differences:

1. An old Web site I seldom even visit myself.
2. I'm a one-man show, not some consulting firm that you'd assume would have staff for additional proofing.
3. At least I don't spell "typos" as if were a possessive noun.

Look, I wasn't trying to look smart (unlike your smartass reply). I was merely pointing out I felt the report lacked insight. The misspelling of hobbyist was an added bonus.

-- Gordon

Hey, Lyle, one question for ya.

I notice both you and "George T" posted from magma.ca, and Ottawa-based ISP. Both you and George's posting IPs are from Ottawa. The consulting company "George T" linked to is also based in Ottawa. Any comments on this coincidence?

Maybe you know this company. If so, tell you what. I'll fix "casses" if you ask the guys at RossGK to fix "hobbiest." Sound fair?

-- Gordon

Looks like they already did! These guys are fast! Almost as if they read my post.

So, I'm keeping my word and fixing my typo, too.

Hugs,

-- Gordon

Hmmmmm -- I detect the delightful aroma of astroturf...