A domestic robot can be either a complex or simple machine primarily used for household chores, care and management. It is a type of service robot that cannot only be used for household chores, but also for entertainment, education or therapy. Different models of domestic robots are available in the market, and scientists and entrepreneurs all over the world are anticipating a robot revolution within the next couple of decades. In fact, in the year 2006, America’s richest man, Bill Gates wrote an article entitled “A Robot in Every Home,” which outlines his vision for how robots will become a ubiquitous part of our lives and in another couple of decades that will likely be true.
Personal and domestic robots can be used for basic house chores, while the others are more entertainment or educational robots. Some examples of domestic robots include robot pet care, robot vacuums, robot lawn mowers, pool cleaners and more.
There are three different classes of domestic robots:
1. Low level – The primaryusage of these robots arefor entertainment aims. An example of this will be the Aibo, a robotic dog or the many other robot child toys available.
2. Care and Chore– These robots provide basic functionality such as vacuuming, floor scrubbing, etc.
3. Domobot – These are far more sophisticated as their goal is to be high-functioning units and fairly autonomous.
There are several domestic robots in the market today, but most of them are lacking in functionality and technology and provide fairly narrow services. We do have some solid robots available today for domestic uses. Two examples include:
Roomba: As a very intelligent robotic vacuum cleaner, the Roomba is gaining mainstream popularity in the US. More than 3 million units have been sold since it was introduced in 2002. Each unit is a disc measuring 13 inches in diameter and 3.5 inches high, with an infrared sensor at the top front center for both remote control use and floor detection. Its vacuuming operation is far better than a typical vacuum cleaner, and it gives more convenience to the user also. One can program his Roomba to clean at a certain time even when he’s out. There’s also a “Virtual Wall” feature that enables the robot to move from one room to another after the floor of the former is completely vacuumed. Last but certainly not the least, the “home base” feature allows you to program the Roomba to return to its charger, and automatically recharge its batteries after a long day of work.
Scooba: While the Roomba vacuums your floor, the Scooba washes it. Manufactured by iRobot, the Scooba is an automated robotic floor washer that uses aspecial non-bleach cleaning solution that efficiently cleans the floors and prevents rust or skidding by properly drying the floor after scrubbing so no moisture is left behind that could rust metal or cause a slippery floor. Unlike other automatic cleaning machines, the Scooba starts its routine by vacuuming solid debris to remove loose material, then squirts the cleaning solution and scrubs the floor. It finishes off by sucking up the mixture of dirt and solution, leaving a totally dry and clean floor. On a single tank-load of a solution, this useful little robot can clean about 850 square feet of flooring.
You can find different types of robots for vacuuming, floor washing and workshop cleaners and total cleaning solutions.More and more models from various companies are coming to market. Imagine…with the Roomba and the Scoobaall it takes is just a simple command and these little robotswill clean with no griping or waiting for the next commercial.
Benefits of domestic robots
- Time saving
- Body saving
- Can provides effective cleaning in your house or office
- Able to clean your whole floor (prepare, wash, scrub and dry)
- Has the ability to zoom and rotate
- Has the ability to detect dirtier areas
- Can avoid stairs and cliffs
- Able to clean along walls
- Will stay where you want it
- Can return to the recharge base when its job is done.
Usability
- Kitchen and other home floors
- Beneath furniture
- Cars
- Office floor
- Work floor
- Under workbenches
- shop carpets
- Industrial floor surfaces
- Other hard-to-reach places.
We don’t have real world examples yet of Domobot yet. There are some robots that are being used more in business settings that due to cost and somewhat limited functionality aren’t ready for home use yet but maybe sometime soon. One example is the PatrolBot.
The PatrolBot is built by MobileRobots Inc., the PatrolBot is a programmable, self-sufficient and general-purpose service robot. What it does is it moves around like a security guard or goes to pre-programmed areas using a map, which you can build and edit manually using its computer system. What started as an ordinary security robot that goes around a specific space, the PatrolBotis now used for a very wide range of applications. It can take care of security with its multi-cameras and detection capabilities. It can equally carry up to 15 lbs of weight, which implies you can have it carry and deliver objects from point A to point B. As a Wi-Fi device, PatrolBot can work autonomously or be controlled using a remote-control unit and other interior services such as memory scanning and deliveries.It’s not quite ready for home use except for the people ready to shell out tens of thousands of dollars and but it may not be too long before they are ready for more domestic use.
Robots are going to be a big part of the world’s future. With people being busier and wanting more free time, there is a growing demand for domestic robots. The technology industry is accepting the challenge to create domestic robots that are even more helpful to humans. In the near future there is no doubt robots will become more advanced and become even more useful.