While robots may have been seen on factory assembly lines all around the world for the last twenty years or so, they have only recently begun to enter into our day to day lives. Nevertheless, they have done so at an incredible rate, and the consumer robotics market is now considered to be the fastest growing market. Industry experts believe that we are now entering into a significant stage in the consumer robotics revolution, with the next five years being key in predicting exactly how these robots will change our lives.
What are Consumer Robotics?
Consumer robotics are robots that are purchased by individuals, and usually either assist, educate or entertain within the home. Traditional examples of consumer robotics would be a vacuum cleaner, but innovation within the industry has been thriving, and there are now some truly astonishing consumer robotic products out there. Robots that help with the cleaning have been expanded on, and there are now robots that can mop the floors, clean the pool and mow the lawn. Personal assistant robots are also set to become popular, while educational and toy robots have already earned themselves a growing fan base. Consumer robotics companies are also trying to push robots as being family companions for the elderly or lonely, claiming that the robots will be able to help counter depression, anxiety and a number of other issues.
Artificial Intelligence
In order to appeal to the modern consumer, robotics companies are now increasingly incorporating artificial intelligence into their robots, not only making them smarter and drastically extending their capabilities, but also leading to the possibility of integrating them with other existing devices within the home.
Technological Innovations
There have been a large number of technological innovations in the robotics industry in recent years, but these were mostly contained within the industrial market. This is all changing, however, and many of these features are now being seen on consumer robotics. From voice recognition to tactile functions to vision to gesture recognition, it is clearly evident from the technology being utilized in consumer robotics that the growth of the market is only going to continue.
Market Challenges
Just like any other quickly expanding market, the consumer robotics market faces some unique challenges. The main one, especially when it comes to robots aimed at assisting around the house, is the repulsion that humans feel when robots take on humanoid features. This is an issue that has been studied in depth, and a solution is yet to be found. Intellectual property is another problem when it comes to robots, especially ones that have been designed to share information, and looks to be a similar battle to the one that the smartphone industry has recently been fighting.
The consumer robotics market is a fascinating one and is set to rapidly expand in the next few years. While all of these innovative robots may not yet be common in your everyday life, industry experts predict that it will not be long before they hit the mass market, transforming the lives of people all over the world.
