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The Robots Are Coming01-13-16 | News

The Robots Are Coming
Research Predicts 10 Percent of U.S. Households Will Own One by End of Decade

Robotic mowers like the Multiple Application General Autonomous, or M.A.G.A. from Evatech, Inc. are expected to be one of the most popular types of consumer robots in the next few years.

New data from Juniper Research has forecast that over 1 in 10 American households will own a consumer robot by the end of the decade, up from under 1 in 25 this year. Early acquisitions are expected to be dominated by task oriented robots assigned to take over household chores, such as lawn mowing.

A smart sprinkler from Droplet Robotics' was noted in a press release from the organization, which provides research and analytical services to the global high-tech communications sector, as one of the devices that offers tremendous "fire and forget" type convenience for consumers, and are likely to usher in a new era of housekeeping.

The new study, Worldwide Consumer Robotics: Markets & Strategies 2015-2020, found that the performance of more complex robots, while improving, is heavily limited by present-day technology. Thus, in order to meet consumer expectations; smarter, more contextually aware robots are required.

The research firm reports that achieving a leap forward in artificial intelligence will demand not only more computing power, but also much greater efficiency if processing is to be offloaded from the cloud, and so new approaches in chip design are likely to become important in the medium-term.

Additionally, the research found that cost and trust are key factors in preventing mass adoption of robotic devices. Research and development costs are high, and studies indicate that trust between robots and humans can erode rapidly, even if a robot is able to perform better than a human on average.

"The state of consumer robotics could be compared to the PC in the late '70s," says research author Steffen Sorrell. "Venture capitalist and corporate investment has ramped up tremendously recently. They know that this is the start of a paradigm shift in the way we use and interact with machines."

The whitepaper, Consumer Robotics ~ Rise of the Machines is available to download from the Juniper Research website together with further details of the new research and interactive dataset.