It has long been promised by movies, videogames and comic books that the year 20XX would bring the rise of robots. While not all of our future predictions have come true – we still don’t have Back to the Future’s self-lacing shoes- some are definitely coming this year. The rise of the robots will seem inevitable in retrospect. As we look back on a planet without military robot dogs or Japanese androids, we’ll yearn for simpler times. In the meantime, however, there is a great push forward into a world where robots serve us. While many companies focus on the Internet of Things and wearables, some are pushing out into the great unknown and bringing us the ultimate technological advancement: robot butlers, nurses, hotel staff and dogs.
“Their linguistic capabilities include tone recognition, presumably to notice fear and condescension.”
Robots in hotels
“Actroids,” or “actress androids,” will greet clients of the new Henn-na Hotel or “Strange Hotel”, which is scheduled to open in Japan on July 17. The robots? will check in clients while having fluent conversations in English, Japanese, Chinese and Korean, while interpreting voice commands and body language, according to Discovery News. Other robots in the building will manage different hotel duties, including acting as bag carriers, cleaners and maids. The actroids, which are all designed to look like young Japanese women, will ultimately provide over 90 percent of hotel services, reported the company president. These electronically-run mannequins will check in guests and let them into rooms using voice and face recognition software, to ensure that guests have nightmares. Their linguistic capabilities include tone recognition, presumably to notice fear and condescension.
There is an American counterpart to these androids in the Cupterino’s Aloft hotel. This incarnation of robotic assistance is known as the A.L.O. Botlr, short for Aloft robot butler. This self-propelled computer merely assists a concierge in dealing with customer requests, and interacts with customers using a 7-inch tablet screen, according to Engadget. This Botlr is really more of a gopher – it ferries requested items like toiletries back and forth through the hotel, and is able to communicate with the on-site elevators when it needs a ride. There are currently plans in the works to see the Botlr scuttling down the halls of many other hotels this year. But these little droids are just designed to help people in hotels, not with anything serious or life threatening. That’s the next robot’s job.
Robots in hospitals
Similar to the Botlr are the Tugs. These medically-capable hospital robots are designed to assist patients, doctors and hospital staff in dealing with the daily drudgery of caring for the sick. The Tugs in the University of California, San Francisco Mission Bay hospital are designed to look cute and harmless while working a fairly intense schedule. Each robot travels up 12 miles a day, according to Wired.
Primarily, these short, stout mannequins act as ferriers between doctors, cooks and patients. Drugs are taken, scanned with a built-in scanner and placed in compartments in the robot. Doctors punch in codes corresponding to patients and the Tugs tug them along, shipping the medicine in a locked container that only unloads once they reach the patients. These new robots are cute, although there are fears that they will eventually grow smart and strong enough to replace the hospital staff around them, like adorable little strikebreakers. But for now, most of them are consigned to compartmentalized roles within certain institutions. That is, until they learn how to walk around and adapt to new environments.
Take the future by its cold, metal, robot hand.
Robots everywhere, all the time
Of course, robots that can go anywhere are also in the works. The new Boston Dynamics robot dogs are being designed for a variety of uses that require mechanized companions that must be able to navigate terrain. While the previous examples of friendly, droid-like behavior have been limited in their motion, these robot dogs can go anywhere, whenever they want. Designed to mimic the movements of dogs with built-in learning behavior on how to navigate different surfaces, these metal quadrupeds can trot along any surfaces they find. From hills, to stairs, to sandy dunes, they’re ready to move.
These robots have a number of possible implementations, including as military aids and search-and-rescue helpers. They are able to work with each other to navigate obstacles and know how to move as a group when necessary. The big question is, are they artificial dogs or metal wolves? Will they work to help us or become as smart as humans, eventually replacing us through their superior ability to navigate obstacle courses? With so much built-in decision making, there is always the possibility, or more accurately the fear of the possibility, that they could turn on us. Unless they’re programmed to love dog-treats. There aren’t any android-chefs, yet.
While wearables and other technology trends are poised to be sold directly to consumers, these new robots are more likely to find use within business and military applications, reaching the public as employees rather than products. Keep an eye out for the next robot in disguise behind a service desk where a human once stood.
