Introduction
Robots in the home have evolved from cleaning robots like iRobot's Roomba, to stationary assistant AIs like Amazon Echo. The next lineup of household robots are currently being utilized and developed to comfort and socialize with humans. Unlike their older fellow home smart machines, these companion robots have emotive faces and structures to go along with their amicable personalities that shine through their interactions with humans. Some specialize in responsiveness to human interaction through physical movements and emotion-telling audio, while others specialize in verbal communication. In other words, these robots are not just becoming more sophisticated assistants, but rather friends and pets that are being adopted into the family.
Recently, emotionally intelligent companion robots that take on the form of dogs, cats, and even seals and ducks, have made their way to nursing homes and hospitals as a form of therapy that comforts and socially engages the elderly and children. While most of these kinds of robots comfort people in nursing homes and hospitals, it is highly likely that they will eventually become commonplace in the everyday household as pets and companions. According to P&S Market Research, as the companion robot world continues to develop more robots with smarter and more emotionally intelligent AI, prices for companion robots will decrease, more people will be able to afford them, and the companion robot market will be expected to "grow from $3.8 billion in 2015 to $34.1 billion by 2022" ("Global Personal Robots Market to Record 37.8% CAGR During 2016 - 2022"). More companion robots means a wider variety to choose from.
With the thriving world of companion robots and their expansion outwards into the everyday household, what should these robots that will be prospectively roaming around homes look like? Answers are endless but current companion robots are generally cute and range between realistic to distinctively robotic robots of many imaginative forms. For the more realistic looking robotic cats and dogs utilized in nursing homes, families and onlookers question if the elderly's attachment to the robot that they think is actually alive is morally okay, especially since it can be seen as the elders being lied to and tricked. As such, with these companion robots being "adopted" into families, is it okay for an individual to be friends with their robot to the same degree of a human-human or human-animal friendship? Companion robots are simply there to interact with you and robots like Kuri, can even keep an eye on your home just like a living pet would do. In the end, they are not living, they are "personality-infused" programs with a robotic body meant to comfort humans in a way that living humans and animals may not. On the other hand, perhaps the sheer fact that there is even an initial "connection" between them and humans well establishes the success of their purpose.
Article Quotes in Video
"Patients can become the duck’s caretaker by feeding, bathing, and even pretending to give it chemotherapy through a tube attached to the duck’s chest"
Romeo, Jim. “Beyond the Vacuum: Companion Robots Coming Home.” Robotics Business Review, Robotics Business Review, 9 Mar. 2018, www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/consumer/beyond-the-vacuum-companion-robots-coming-home/.
"The global personal robots market is likely to grow from $3.8 billion in 2015 to $34.1 billion by 2022. The increase in urbanization is introducing machines, such as personal robots, in the households"
P&S Market Research. “Global Personal Robots Market to Record 37.8% CAGR During 2016 – 2022.” Seasonings and Spices Market to Reach $30,412.8 Million by 2023, P&S Market Research, Feb. 2017, www.psmarketresearch.com/press-release/personal-robots-market.
Images and Gifs
Ackerman, Evan. “Mayfield Robotics Announces Kuri, a $700 Home Robot.” IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News, IEEE Spectrum, 3 Jan. 2017, spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/home-robots/mayfield-robotics-announces-kuri-a-700-mobile-home-robot.
Bindi, Tas. “Sony Back in the Robotics Game with New Version of Aibo.” ZDNet, ZDNet, 9 Oct. 2017, www.zdnet.com/article/sony-back-in-the-robotics-game-with-new-version-of-aibo/.
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