Robots in the Home

Artificial Intelligence at Home

"Some scientists think robots will do domestic tasks and be as common as TVs"

"They will do the housework, never answer back and could even be trusted with a credit card. Robots - once the stuff of science fiction - may soon become reality." -- McKie, Robin and David Smith

Image from Wikipedia.

Applications

Contents

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Good Starting Places

AI in the News

App controls Husqvarna robot lawn mowers

Dial in to your robot lawn mower and track it on Google Maps. The Automower 260 ACX will text you if something is amiss. If you're too lazy to mow your own lawn, and too lazy to supervise a robot that will mow your own lawn, then outdoor equipment makerHusqvarnahas an app for you. My Automoweris a free app foriPhone,iPad, andiPod Touchthat lets you control HusqvarnaAutomowerswith GPS such as the 260 ACX from anywhere. Users can also set mowing times and check the status of their Automower, as well as view instructional videos on its use.

Source

Apr 22 2011
Publication

Face of the future?

 Among those who enthusiastically endorse the imminence of the robot age is the industry analyst, Future Horizons, which has noted that applications currently under discussion include the development of baby robots for mother training, robots for house cleaning, support for the old, disaster rescue, fast-food serving staff, nursing, opponents in board games, security, and window cleaning. ...'They are clumsy now but it won't be long before the technology marches on. In five to 10 years you'll have a robot doing chores like dispensing medicine, feeding the cat, making cups of tea, taking food out of the freezer and cooking it in a microwave. 

Source

Jul 18 2004, By McKie, Robin and David Smith

General Readings

AI in the News

Robotic Gadgets for Household Chores

Since the 1960s, robots have assumed major roles in industrial manufacturing and assembly, the remote detonation of explosives, search and rescue, and academic research. But the devices have remained out of reach, in affordability and practicality, to most consumers.

Source

Dec 9 2012, By O'Brien, Kevin J.
consumer
AI in the News

Bosch Introduces New Autonomous Robotic Lawnmower

We got a tip over the weekend that Bosch is introducing (or, has just introduced) what a press release (machine translated from Swedish) calls the world s first intelligent robot lawn mower, the Bosch Indego. Unfortunately, you do need to install a wire around the edges of your lawn to make sure that the Indego doesn t mow its way out to the street where it could run over some cars or something, but beyond that, it appears to be mostly hands-off. The mower will autonomously avoid gravelly areas, trees, terraces, bends, shrubs, fishponds, sprinklers, lawn gnomes, lawn flamingos, lawn meerkats, lawn UFOs, lawn moai, lawn velociraptors, and lawn zombies, all of which are very important features to those of us who make our lifestyle choices based on Skymall catalogs. If it encounters a new obstacle (like that lawn sumo wrestler you ve always wanted), it ll remember the location to mow later, and then it ll avoid the spot permanently if the obstacle shows up three times in a row.

Source

Jun 11 2012
lawn mower
AI in the News

Honing household helpers

... even "simple" human actions are extremely difficult to replicate in robots. Now, MIT computer scientists are tackling the problem with a hierarchical, progressive algorithm that has the potential to greatly reduce the computational cost associated with performing complex actions.


Leslie Kaelbling, the Panasonic Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, and Tomás Lozano-Pérez, the School of Engineering Professor of Teaching Excellence and co-director of MIT’s Center for Robotics, outline their approach in a paper titled "Hierarchical Task and Motion Planning in the Now," which they presented at the IEEE Conference on Robotics and Automation earlier this month in Shanghai.

Source

Nov 20 2012, By Finn, Emily
Podcast

Harvest Automation

In its latest episode, the Robots Podcast interviews Joe Jones, co-founder of Harvest Automation, the first employee of iRobot, and inventor of the Roomba (together with another Harvest Automation cofounder, Paul Sandin). Jones shares his deep insight into robotics in both academia and business and explains how his startup is the next logical step after the Roomba - and taps into a potentially huge market for autonomous robots. Read on or tune in!

Source

Jan 16 2011, 26 min, Robots Podcast
AI in the News

The sad, sad state of the modern robot

A Bedford company is introducing the Scooba 230, a robot that can clean bathrooms -- it's a cousin of the Roomba (and made by the same company), but smaller and therefore able to get at tighter spots. (It only does floors, though, leaving the less pleasant stuff to humans.) While the Scooba 230 may be a useful addition to certain households, it's also a depressing reflection of just how far from where we need to be, robotics-wise. It's 2011, after all, and we're still decades from the sorts of robots we have been promised by science fiction, whether they be of the sass-talking or psychotic killing varieties.

Source

Jan 4 2011
AI in the News

Willow Garage's PR2 Robot Achieves Another Laundry Landmark, This Time Cleverly Pairing Your Socks

The guys over at Willow Garage have already proved their PR2 to be a worthy weekend companion, teaching it toplay billiards,fetch beer, and even to clean up after a party. A team of UC Berkeley researchers more interested in domestic applications for robotics has also shown that PR2 can be a handy household companion during the slower parts of the week, namelylaundry day. Now, they've shown that if you give PR2 a sock it can employ its keen ability for repetitive hand motions to that other regularly recurring chore:pairing socks! Presented with two socks, PR2 must first determine if each one is correctly oriented or if one or both are inside out.

Source

Aug 24 2010
video, videos

News

AI in the News

Robotic Gadgets for Household Chores

Since the 1960s, robots have assumed major roles in industrial manufacturing and assembly, the remote detonation of explosives, search and rescue, and academic research. But the devices have remained out of reach, in affordability and practicality, to most consumers.

Source

Dec 9 2012, By O'Brien, Kevin J.
consumer
AI in the News

Honing household helpers

... even "simple" human actions are extremely difficult to replicate in robots. Now, MIT computer scientists are tackling the problem with a hierarchical, progressive algorithm that has the potential to greatly reduce the computational cost associated with performing complex actions.


Leslie Kaelbling, the Panasonic Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, and Tomás Lozano-Pérez, the School of Engineering Professor of Teaching Excellence and co-director of MIT’s Center for Robotics, outline their approach in a paper titled "Hierarchical Task and Motion Planning in the Now," which they presented at the IEEE Conference on Robotics and Automation earlier this month in Shanghai.

Source

Nov 20 2012, By Finn, Emily
AI in the News

Bosch Introduces New Autonomous Robotic Lawnmower

We got a tip over the weekend that Bosch is introducing (or, has just introduced) what a press release (machine translated from Swedish) calls the world s first intelligent robot lawn mower, the Bosch Indego. Unfortunately, you do need to install a wire around the edges of your lawn to make sure that the Indego doesn t mow its way out to the street where it could run over some cars or something, but beyond that, it appears to be mostly hands-off. The mower will autonomously avoid gravelly areas, trees, terraces, bends, shrubs, fishponds, sprinklers, lawn gnomes, lawn flamingos, lawn meerkats, lawn UFOs, lawn moai, lawn velociraptors, and lawn zombies, all of which are very important features to those of us who make our lifestyle choices based on Skymall catalogs. If it encounters a new obstacle (like that lawn sumo wrestler you ve always wanted), it ll remember the location to mow later, and then it ll avoid the spot permanently if the obstacle shows up three times in a row.

Source

Jun 11 2012
lawn mower
AI in the News

App controls Husqvarna robot lawn mowers

Dial in to your robot lawn mower and track it on Google Maps. The Automower 260 ACX will text you if something is amiss. If you're too lazy to mow your own lawn, and too lazy to supervise a robot that will mow your own lawn, then outdoor equipment makerHusqvarnahas an app for you. My Automoweris a free app foriPhone,iPad, andiPod Touchthat lets you control HusqvarnaAutomowerswith GPS such as the 260 ACX from anywhere. Users can also set mowing times and check the status of their Automower, as well as view instructional videos on its use.

Source

Apr 22 2011
AI in the News

The sad, sad state of the modern robot

A Bedford company is introducing the Scooba 230, a robot that can clean bathrooms -- it's a cousin of the Roomba (and made by the same company), but smaller and therefore able to get at tighter spots. (It only does floors, though, leaving the less pleasant stuff to humans.) While the Scooba 230 may be a useful addition to certain households, it's also a depressing reflection of just how far from where we need to be, robotics-wise. It's 2011, after all, and we're still decades from the sorts of robots we have been promised by science fiction, whether they be of the sass-talking or psychotic killing varieties.

Source

Jan 4 2011
AI in the News

Willow Garage's PR2 Robot Achieves Another Laundry Landmark, This Time Cleverly Pairing Your Socks

The guys over at Willow Garage have already proved their PR2 to be a worthy weekend companion, teaching it toplay billiards,fetch beer, and even to clean up after a party. A team of UC Berkeley researchers more interested in domestic applications for robotics has also shown that PR2 can be a handy household companion during the slower parts of the week, namelylaundry day. Now, they've shown that if you give PR2 a sock it can employ its keen ability for repetitive hand motions to that other regularly recurring chore:pairing socks! Presented with two socks, PR2 must first determine if each one is correctly oriented or if one or both are inside out.

Source

Aug 24 2010
video, videos

Videos

Video

Domestic robots compete in Istanbul

Robots that can hunt out snacks and wipe tables have been competing in the world league of intelligent mechanoids. The RoboCup competition, which features engineers from 40 countries, has been taking place in Istanbul and now includes home robot trials. Machines are tested on their ability to throw away rubbish, clean tables and fetch tasty treats from the kitchen.

Source

3 min, 2011, BBC
Video

Social Robots

Would you want a robotic friend who could chitchat, do chores, even take care of you? Such bots may be here soon.

Source

11 min, 2011, PBS

Podcasts

Podcast

Harvest Automation

In its latest episode, the Robots Podcast interviews Joe Jones, co-founder of Harvest Automation, the first employee of iRobot, and inventor of the Roomba (together with another Harvest Automation cofounder, Paul Sandin). Jones shares his deep insight into robotics in both academia and business and explains how his startup is the next logical step after the Roomba - and taps into a potentially huge market for autonomous robots. Read on or tune in!

Source

Jan 16 2011, 26 min, Robots Podcast

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