"We're poised on the edge of a new generation of robots that will open up vast new opportunities for robotic applications. The next generation, mobile service robots (or "serve us" robots as I like to refer to them), will leave the factory floor behind and cater to millions of end-users in a variety of settings - from the hospital to the home, from restaurants to offices. The populace will be coming face to face with these service robots, and its views of robots will impact the growth rate of this potentially enormous industry." -Joanne Pransky

Service Robot Links The first generation of robots - industrial robot arms - arrived in the 1950's but it was not until the '80s that they began their infiltration into manufacturing plants. Twenty years later, there are nearly 1 million industrial robots being used worldwide. (The majority of these are in the automotive industry. For more information on industrial robots in North America, refer to the Robotic Industries Association.) Add mobility, sensors, and artificial intelligence to these industrial robots and you have a new generation of autonomous robots that is able to perform services for people and equipment. Service robots, or "serve us" robots as I like to refer to them, will cater to the human masses, and thus, will become a mass product. Service robots are currently doing dangerous, boring and repetitive work, and filling job shortages. They are used in space, underwater, medicine, agriculture, firefighting, hotels, and entertainment, with the greatest number of service robots being used in the home (vacuum cleaning and lawn mowing). The potential for the number of service robots is huge - in the billions. The emerging personal, service and mobile robotics markets are expected to grow from $500M in 2002 to over $5B in 2005, in all types of industries. This is certainly just the beginning for "robotkind". Economically and intellectually, we may be ready for the robotic revolution, but what is being done to prepare ourselves emotionally for this new social structure? How will we feel about interacting with imperfect human beings after we've been spending most of our time with our robotic assistants? Maybe we won't get along so well with our intelligent, communicating robotic coworkers. Will there be more disgruntled human employees or maybe it will be the mistreated robot that goes "postal"? It will probably be easier for the young and middle-aged who are already technologically savvy, to accept robots as tools that can ultimately save them from drudgery and mundane tasks, but what about the ever-increasing aging population, that will soon become the majority of the U.S. population? What are we doing as a society to educate and get people ready for coexisting with robots on a daily basis? We need to educate, prepare, and better understand the issues that will arise in a world where highly skilled, competent, and sensitive robots will play an integral role.

Service Robot Links: Check out some of these websites: • www.ifr.org • www.roboticstrends.com • www.service-robots.org/ IEEE-start.php • www.ifr.org The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) and the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) publish annually a report entitled World Robotics. In it represents a worldwide market survey of service robots and projections for the next few years. • www.roboticstrends.com An online magazine launched in October 2003 serving the burgeoning personal, service and mobile robotics marketplace. • www.service-robots.org/ IEEE-start.php The Technical Committee on Service Robots of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society has put together a website available on service robots. It describes in detail service robot technologies and applications by type with their correlating companies and research labs. It also lists links, publications, initiatives, and conferences on service robots as well as robotic related professional organizations. • Contact Dr. Joanne