What Is A Service Robot
Service robots have no strict officially accepted definition, they represent very different structures and abilities and are used in many different applications.
International Federation of Robotics (IFR) gives the following provisional definition: “A service robot is a robot which operates semi- or fully-autonomously to perform services useful to the well-being of humans and equipment, excluding manufacturing operations.”
And it continues with this explanation:
“With this definition, manipulating industrial robots could also be regarded as service robots, provided they are installed in non-manufacturing operations. Service robots may or may not be equipped with an arm structure as is the industrial robot. Often, but not always, the service robots are mobile. In some cases, service robots consist of a mobile platform on which one or several arms are attached and controlled in the same mode as the arms of the industrial robot.”
By the end of 1990s, the International Service Robot Association (ISRA) issued following working definition of service robots: “Machines that sense, think, and act to benefit or extend human capabilities and to increase human productivity” (Pransky, 1996).
In general there exists no uniform robot categorisation. Here, we refer to the classification proposed in Zielinski (2010) where the robots are classified according to the type of acting environment.
· Industrial robots are operating in a fully structured environment. For example, in the work cell all devices are strictly cooperating, so it is sufficient that the robot control is position based, and therefore not many external sensors are needed.
· Personal service robots are operating in a quasi-structural environment, created by man for its own purposes. It means that the surrounding is not exactly adjusted to the needs of the performed job (e.g., regular home, waiting hall, office, restaurant).
· Field robots work for the group of anonymous recipients in the natural environment which is fully unstructured, for example: the forest, sky space, sea bottom, ruins, mountains. Field robots represent the category of professional service robots.
Personal and field robots are combined in one group called service robots. The actions of service robots depend on information gathered by external sensors.
With the fast development of robotics and the variety of robots, the conclusion formulated by Joseph Engelberger—the “father” of robotics—is very proper: “I can't define a robot, but I know one when I see one.”
Joseph Engelberger predicted that service robots would one day become the largest class of robot applications, outnumbering the industrial uses by several times; this is becoming a fact.
The idea of helping the human in heavy or repetitive work by artificial means has been observed since the beginning of humanity. Thus, tools and machines were conceived, built and used as intermediate solutions with increasing performances over the time.
It is difficult to specify when the first service robots appeared. Machines helping or entertaining the human can be treated as its precursors.
The first robots resembling humanoids were built in the beginning of the twentieth century for exhibitions and entertainment purposes. They are precursors of service robots and with this point of view the history of service robots is older than the history of industrial robots which started in 1950s.
The first helpmate indoor mobile robots appeared in the 1980s.
Currently, service robots are built for variety of applications, including: housekeeping and cleaning tasks, edutainment, inspection, rehabilitation and medical applications, surveillance, guidance and office works, agriculture, construction works, fire fighting, demining tasks, palletising, handling and picking goods, and search and rescue missions. The number of applications expands over the years.
Taking into account the type of performed task, the following four categories of service robots can be listed (Zielinski, 2010):
· professional service providers (acting on the ground, in offices, in hospitals),
· domestic service robots (helping in personal works, operating in the house, robots for entertainment, and education),
· security robots (working for defence, safety, and rescue),
· space robots (working on space and doing planet exploratio
Robotics: Present State, Future Trends
Contemporary robots are used for jobs that are boring, dirty, or dangerous; or for tasks that require more speed, precision, or endurance than a human can provide.
They perform almost all welding, painting, and assembly tasks in the automotive industry and have become a basic element of production in industries ranging from electronics to wood products. According to World Robotics, a 2008 report published by the International Federation of Robotics, the estimated number of industrial robots installed worldwide is more than one million—50% in Asia and Australia, 33% in Europe, and 17% in North America.
An assessment of the international state of robotics R&D published in 2006 by the nonprofit analysis World Technology Evaluation Center (WTEC), found that the U.S. was leading in robot navigation in outdoor environments, robot architectures (the integration of control, structure, and computation), and in applications to space, defense, underwater systems, and some aspects of service and personal robots.
Japan and Korea lead in technology for robot mobility, humanlike robots, and some aspects of service and personal robots (including entertainment). Europe led in mobility for structured environments, including urban transportation. Europe also has significant programs in elder care and home service robotics. Australia led in commercial applications of field robotics, particularly in such areas as cargo handling and mining, as well as in the theory and application of localization and navigation.
Cognitive robots can be used as home helpers, caregivers, or emergency and rescue aids.The panel also reported that the U.S. lost its preeminence in industrial robotics at the end of the 1980s, and nearly all its robots for welding, painting, and assembly are imported from Japan or Europe.
U.S.R&D efforts on robotics have focused primarily on military and defense-related applications—unmanned aerial, ground, and maritime systems, both surface and undersea. The Department of Defense plans to develop an increasingly sophisticated force of unmanned systems over the next 25 years and expects to integrate them with manned systems.
In 2009, the DOD published the 25-year, unmanned-systems integrated roadmap to 2034. In July 2008, the Robotics Technology Consortium, Inc., was formed with 70 initial organizations, to speed the creation and deployment of ground robotics technology for the DOD and other U.S. government agencies. It has since grown to more than 200 member organizations.
A congressional robotics caucus was formed in 2007 to broaden awareness among members of Congress and policy analysts of key issues facing the U.S. robotics industry. In May 2009, the caucus published A Roadmap for U.S. Robotics: From Internet to Robotics, a targeted R&D roadmap for nonmilitary applications of robotics in manufacturing, in medical and healthcare, in domestic and professional services, and in emerging technologies.
In 2005, the European Robotics Technology Platform was formed to strengthen links between academia and industry, and to develop a research agenda of European robotics. In 2009, the industry group Coordination Action for Robotics in Europe (CARE) also published the Strategic Research Agenda for Robotics.
In Japan, the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry has sponsored robotics activities for a long time. A 2007 national technology roadmap by the Trade Ministry called for one million robots to be installed throughout the country by 2025.
To alleviate a workforce shortage in the country, robots are expected to fill the jobs of 3.5 million people by 2025. The Japanese government also estimates that the nation may save as much as $21 billion on insurance payments in the same year by using robots to monitor the health of elderly people.
In South Korea, a 10-year robotics initiative was launched along with a detailed roadmap to make the country the second-largest provider of robotics in the world, after Japan. Robot Land, a theme park being built near Seoul, is expected to open in 2013. The country’s forecasts include placing a robot in every household by 2020.
Future Environments
The convergence of technologies involving computing, communication, and intelligent interfaces with autonomous robotics suggests that networks of intelligent, autonomous robots may become the next disruptive technology.
The concept of networking everyday objects and appliances in an ambient intelligent environment is not new. But the focus has usually been on the creation, delivery, and sharing of information, and not on the performance of physical tasks.
Autonomous mobile robots may one day perform complex medical procedures, including surgery, on patients in dangerous or remote locations from battlefields to space, with little human guidance. Advances in miniaturization and bionanotechnology could lead to a new generation of nanorobots, which would revolutionize the medical industry. Nanobots may provide treatment at the cellular level, perhaps clearing clogged arteries, repairing genes, battling cancer cells, and delivering drugs.
Cognitive robots can become available as office helpers or as robotic companions for guiding the blind and assisting the elderly. General-purpose anthropomorphic robots, with human-like hands, can be used in transforming manufacturing from resource-intensive to knowledge-intensive, and creating totally unmanned factories. Agricultural robotic scouts may roam the fields of the future to care for the plants, use sensors to provide detailed real-time information about the status of the crop, and apply data fusion techniques for making management decisions.
What Are Service Robots And How They Benefit Mankind?
Service robot renders different types of services to humans. The use of robots in the service industry includes performing tedious or boring tasks, murky, dirty jobs, dismal, time-consuming, remote, risky, and repetitive tasks. Service robotics differs from industrial robots used to automate manufacturing processes both in their role and form.
According to the International Organization for Standardization, a “service robot” is a robot that frees humans by performing some useful tasks for them. A service robot autonomously operates through an inbuilt control system which you can manually override when required. It may have full or partial autonomy. A service robot with full autonomy operates independently without requiring any active participation or intervention from a human. Moreover, a partially autonomous service robot, on the other hand, interacts with humans to accomplish the task.
At the end of the day, both partial and full-service robots improve their productivity one way or the other. Some service robots perform well in unsafe environments, while others engage in data collection and analysis. Another group of service robot improves work efficiency. Whatever task they do, the end goal of using a service robot is always to improve productivity. It is that boost in productivity that robots bring to individuals and businesses that make the cost of service worth it.
Most of these service robots are beneficial to businesses and industries and are currently employed in different types of industries including the retail industry, hotel and hospitality industry, hospitals and healthcare industry, space, and security industry like in policing, storage and warehouse, demolition and rehabilitation industry, agricultural industry, and more to automate risky and tasking jobs.
Unlike industrial robots, the service robotics is designed to give them more flexibility in reacting to different situations and environment where they render the service to humans. In this regard, the interaction of a robot with humans gets more complicated and more challenging, for example, when a service robot needs to render service like washing of hair.
Types Of Service Robots
There are different types of service robots. These perform multiple types of chores for humans. The developments in the robotics industry give services robots that are more manageable and intelligent, smarter, and a lot less costly. The benefits of service robots are their boosted flexibility. Now, service robots can be used for both personal and professional services. Similar to all other types of robotic automation, a service robot often enhances data collection and analysis, which are useful for further business operation and optimization