Though popularized by the Jetsons and Lost in Space, the first generation of robots failed to live up to expectations. But like platform shoes and '70s TV shows, robots may soon be back in vogue. With the aid of PCs and specialized software, a new generation of robots can be programmed to serve you drinks, set a VCR, even vacuum your apartment.
Gecko Systems and Rugrover Systems have both developed domestic robots that are controlled from a PC and communicate over a radio frequency similar to a cordless phone.
"The beauty of working with robots today is that that all the parts we are using are used standard consumer electronics devices, so they are cheap," said Martin Spencer, founder and CEO of Gecko Systems, in Austin, Texas.
Gecko's creation, CareBot, which costs US$2,595 and stands about 4 feet tall, is a more sophisticated device than the Rugrover counterpart, Cye -- a 1.5-foot robot costing US$629. Users need to supply their own PCs for both the devices, which use the Windows operating system.
Both robots employ artificial intelligence programs to help them build maps of their environment. For instance, if CareBot runs across an obstacle in the living room, that information is logged, and the robot will avoid it in the future. By contrast, Cye needs direction from the user to navigate its environment via a mouse and a graphical user interface; the robot stores this information, which helps it learn about its environment.
A user can direct CareBot by typing a command, such as vacuum, or move from room one to room two. However, Spencer said that in the near future users will be able to integrate robot programming language modules and simply give verbal commands. The software will also allow it to read a Web page or email, via attached microphones and speakers. Users can add peripherals -- video cameras, microphones, and TV remote controls -- to the robots via standard PC ports and telephone jacks.
"The PC is revolutionizing these new robots," said Robert Doerr, a collector who runs Robots Wanted, a robot hospital and retirement home in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. "In the past, if you wanted to build a robot, you had to build everything from scratch -- the navigation system, motors, voice recognition, and speech syntheses."
High cost and failure to meet expectations hindered the robot market in the '80s, he said.
"People saw Star Wars and wanted R2-D2, but their hopes were dashed," said Doerr. "There was no hardware or software platform to give these things any intelligence."
Furthermore, a robot class struggle developed, according to Henry Thorne, founder and CEO of Rugrover Systems, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
"University researchers looked on industrial robots as blue collar, crude welding machines, while the industrial robotics manufacturers looked on the universities' robots as frilly and useless," he said.
Both Thorne and Spencer hope that by combining blue-collar brawn with the brains of white-collar development, robots will be the next wave in PC peripherals.
Both men have spent most of their working lives building industrial robots for automobile manufacturers, but have turned to computer science specialists to write their artificial intelligence software.
Robots may also make a comeback as toys and educational aids. After dinosaurs, robots are the most popular objects of interest to children under the age of 10, according to a recent study by the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
One dentist in St. Clair Shores, Michigan uses robots to talk to children when they arrive for dental work.
"Often the most difficult thing the dentist has to do is get a child to sit in the chair," said Doerr. So he sends in the robot and the children follow it into his office.
In addition to these developments, Swedish vacuum cleaner manufacture Electrolux is building a vacuuming robot, and Sony is building a robotic dog for the toy market. Customers are sure to be all ears, waiting for the digi-dog's first binary bark.
