JOIN USIndia is taking its first baby steps towards consumer robotics. Preeti Verma Lal offers an engaging peek in to the sci-fi-like reality...
Have you ever woken up to a heap of domestic blues? The maid called in sick. The dog brought muck from his morning walk. The carpet’s laden with monsoon gunk. The grass in the lawn is so unkempt that you want to trim it in a salon. And your back so sore that you wouldn’t mind a heavy-footed dinosaur for a masseur.
You wriggle back into bed and slip into sci-fi-like dream, where you twirl a magic wand and all domestic chores get done in a jiffy. The carpet gets cleaned. The lawn mowed. Your sore back massaged. Shanta Bai, the maid, and Cherry, the mucky dog, happily forgotten. Suddenly, you wake up and the domestic chores stare back at you.
Wait. Do not be so crestfallen. There’s Milagrow. It will mow your lawn, mop your floor, scrub your swimming pool clean, and massage your back. Milagrow will not crib and gnarl like Shanta Bai. Or, shriek for a salary hike every month. All you need to do is lift your little finger, press a button and lo! all domestic chores are done. You bring it home once and then you both can live happily ever after.
Who’s this Jack-of-all-trades? Milagrow is a new breed of consumer robotics that will soon make our everyday existence simpler. Look at what they can do: Floor robots do most of the cleaning by themselves; they do not fall off the stairs; they sense obstacles; are self-charging. Lawn robots can cut almost 0.7 acres in a single day and run for three hours on a single charge.
The pool robot can climb up to six feet and saves 93 percent on energy and 30 percent on chemicals, as compared to regular swimming pool cleaning methods. The Winbot window cleaner can even clean frameless windows without tumbling. And, then there’s the perfect back friend – a robot that moves over the body without falling and sedulously stimulates nerves, improves blood circulation and relaxes muscles. All the bots are in town. And they work. No, I am not exaggerating. Do not believe me? Hear what Amitabh Bachchan has to say on a social networking site: Totally fascinating. Humans shall create their own substitute. Saina Nehwal calls it “humane technology”.S Raghuraman, a divorcee, lives with his 82-year-old mother in a two-storied, 3,200 sq.ft. home.
He has 15 RedHawks, robotic vacuum cleaners that move on their own, need no instructions, go underneath objects, collecting dust. Rarely, when the bot beeps in complaint does Raghuraman lend a hand.
India is taking its first baby steps towards consumer robotics, but the first domestic robots hit the market almost 40 years ago. Remember Topo, 36-inch tall servant robot with a beige plastic body, two-wheel drives for feet and arms that could fold out? Topo had no mind of its own – it had no sensor. It communicated through infrared transmitters.
Topo is dead. But the world has embraced an entire battalion of consumer robots. Security robots have wide-angle night-vision camera that can detect the faintest footfall of an intruder. It can shoot videos of designated areas and send email and SMS alerts (talk of a tech-savvy robot!). The CatLitter Robot cleans the kitty poop into a built-in receptacle. Gutter-cleaning robots ram through sludge, filth, debris in gutters, and scrub them clean.
Beyond the long line of useful robots, there are robotic toys. Who can forget Furby, the owl-like creature that has been a favourite since 1998? Furbies speak Furbish (that’s their mother tongue), but grow up to speak more English. The highly-emotional Furbies were called Emoto-Tronic Furbies.
And then, there are social robots. Like the Wakamaru, a humanoid robot, that’s the best friend of the elderly and less-mobile people. Paro, a therapeutic robot baby seal - with five tactile, light, audition, temperature, and posture sensors -provides comfort to nursing home patients. The Ekso is a wearable robotic exoskeleton that helps paraplegics stand and walk. Budgee can carry luggage, books, groceries and other belongings, and follow you wherever you go.
If you step into Robot Restaurant in Harbin, China, do not be surprised if an usher robot extends its mechanic arm to the side and says “Earth person, hello. Welcome to the Robot Restaurant”. Here, 20 robots cook dumplings and noodles, deliver food to the table, usher diners and singing robots entertain them. The demand for consumer robotics is growing so fast that the worldwide market is expected to reach USD six billion by 2017, out of which India should corner seven to eight percent. “The urban-centric Indian robotics market is still small with roughly 1000-units annual sale, 90 percent of which comes from 10 big cities,” says Rajeev Karwal, founder director of Milagrow.
So, next time Shanta Bai throws a tantrum, asks for a pay hike and gets ready to stomp out at your ‘no’, take a deep breath, smile, hug her goodbye and tell her you are hiring a bot. An efficient, no-fuss, no-scream, no-leave, no tantrum, no-salary domestic help. Then, get back into bed, cuddle up with Paro and let the body bot work its magic on your sore back.