Then
d
n
a
NOW
A BRIEF LOOK AT
SERVICE ROBOTICS
by Tom Carroll
Forty years ago, robotics consisted mainly of the industrial variety with
a smattering of university, industrial specialty labs, and private
experimenter’s creations making the headlines. None of these robots
were a finished manufacturer’s product aimed at non-industrial
applications but were more of a ‘proof-of-concept’ prototype. Certainly,
many experimenters dreamed of an in-home robot to assist people in
everyday chores, but most non-industrial machines of the ‘60s were aimed
at surveillance uses or weapon systems. Isaac Asimov’s many robot tales
may have whet the appetites of those who wanted a robot to serve them,
but few people had the faintest idea of how to design and
develop a truly useful service robot.
Bipedal walkers were certainly not an option 40 years ago, so any experimentation centered on
wheeled machines. However, today’s market
consists of literally hundreds of categories of
robotics. Though still in the developmental stage
and trailing an umbilical power and control cord,
Twendy-one, a robot from Japan, (shown in
Figure 1) can actually physically assist disabled
people in their daily lives rather than following
them around like an obedient dog as with most of
the other ‘home care bots’ being developed. The
245 pound nurse robot may become available in a
decade or so.
Let’s look at the service category, which can
include sub-categories of personal and consumer
robots (toys, vacuum cleaner robots, etc.), military
and defense robots, security robots, academic and
research robots, healthcare and hospital robots,
and a vast array of remotely-operated vehicles. Of
these groups, there are more finite sections that
may include mobile and non-mobile (fixed)
versions. The mobile categories may include
wheeled/tracked, airborne, sub sea, surface of the
sea, and various other types. The non-mobile sub-category may include robotic subsystems built into
a larger system to add functionality.
New Battery
Chemistries
Allow Better
Robot Designs
One area that I
feel has allowed the
tremendous growth in
the service robots
category is the vast
improvement in battery
technology. Almost all
industrial robots tend to
be mounted in a
particular location on a
production line or in a
work cell, and derive
their power (and some
control) from hard-wired
lines. Service robots are
FIGURE 1. Twendy-one
Assistant Robot.
SERVO 02.2010 79
