AMAZON WORKS ON ITS FIRST DOMESTIC ROBOT
Will not be a butler
As we said, there are almost no details about the features and functions of Vesta, so it is very difficult to understand what exactly Amazon is going to offer. What does seem more definite is that a home robot will have nothing to do with the idea of an android butler that many have in their heads. The technology for these types of devices is not yet very advanced. Despite the fact that many development companies are working on this, reality tells us that there is a long way to go until artificial intelligence (AI) is as smart as we want it to be. Let's see what will happen next!
Instead, it looks like Amazon's home robot will be a kind of virtual assistant. Lately, there have been several companies that have introduced products of this type, such as LG Hub, Mayfield Robotics Kuri, and Pixar Jibo. These devices are designed to act as a central point of contact in any smart home. Motives? They allow users to control devices connected to the Internet, perform tasks such as setting timers and searching the Internet, and have more interactive games for young children. Features that will undoubtedly evolve as artificial intelligence develops. # TC Bolts
However, Vesta can be really useful for users if the voice assistant Alexa is enabled, which will take on an even more personal role and will be able to collect information of all kinds to make the robot perform better.
Roomba's creator iRobot is also working in this direction. In fact, they believe that cleaning robots will be much more efficient in the future thanks to the data they collect on a daily basis. For example, if a robot maps and understands your home, it will be able to perform a series of more intelligent and intuitive actions, such as turning on lights at specific times or raising and lowering blinds in our homes.
To this must be added the many other possibilities that artificial intelligence offers: Vesta can help us with receiving or making calls, writing messages and emails, and helping children with their homework. In short, the Amazon robot would be a helper in everyday life, albeit far from the servile android we all envision and personify in the actor Robin Williams, who played the human robot in Bicentennial. Man ".
Rapidly developing market
Amazon's home robot confirms what many of us have already felt: the robotics sector is booming. According to Statista, the robotics sector will have a turnover of $ 2,700 million in 2020, and in just five years it will reach $ 4,400. The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) goes further in its calculations and estimates that the number of domestic robots worldwide will reach 31 million. with an added value of about $ 13 billion, including of course both harvesting crews. and for mowing lawns or cleaning swimming pools.
And the fact is, the robotics market, according to the IFR, has several open fronts. For example, robotics has made great strides in terms of personal and home applications. It has grown globally with relatively few mass-market products, including floor cleaning robots, lawn mowers, and educational and entertainment robots. But, they warn, the technology continues and will continue to evolve, making the next generation of robots even more powerful.
In this sense, it is not surprising that many people imagine that their homes are filled with smart devices, which may happen in the coming decades. Of course, cleaning robots will still be the majority in our homes. This is evidenced by the sales indices. Every year we buy more than three million of these devices worldwide, so we can take the calculations they produce from the IFR as reliable: there will be more than 30 million such devices in 2019. Cleaning robots already account for 96% of home robot sales, followed by robotic lawn mowers and pool cleaning devices, albeit at a much lower rate.
Not everything works
Obviously, people have other needs besides cleaning the house or mowing the lawn. Entertainment is another sector in which robotics offers many opportunities. This is evidenced by the sales figures: in 2015 alone, the total number of toy robots, remote-controlled multimedia robots and personal educational and entertainment robots was 1.7 million units. IFR predicts this market will grow to 11 million units in 2019. Toys and gadgets for hobbies and hobbies account for 70 percent of the market in this segment.
But robotics also has a distinctly social purpose. There are assistive robots that can help people with disabilities and the elderly. Although very few units have been sold yet, IFR shows that sales reached 4,700 units in 2015 and were worth $ 17 million. They estimate that by 2019 the number could grow to 37,500 units with a market value of $ 97 million.
