Hey guys, I'm posting this one meerly for my own professional curriosity. Since I am going to be going in the field of robotics this is a question that bares great importance. As of late one questions comes across my mind everytime I think of potential projects; What can these things do and what will they be good for?
I know some answers but I also know that I don't all the answers.
Purposes I can think of are:
Medical bots: Able to do first line analysis of patiences, examinations and minor check-ups of the like(take blood samples, scan for infections, test blood pressure, etc). All the small things that people sometimes wait in line for ages for in those darn waiting rooms.
Security bots: I think this is the most popular, but it's a fact, a small bot taht scans areas for breaches in doors, windows, movement and reports back to a hub that can alert personnel if there is a situation or a threat that needs attention. A far better deterant than a simple camera. Which we all know just like in the movies, it can be by passed easily by some fancy thief-like foot work.Basic non-lethal weaponry can be issued aswell like tranq. darts, tasers or rubber bullets in more militarized applications.
Home robots: Well I'm not 100% on this one, but wouldn't it be nice to have a mechanical friend around to help you with the simplest of tasks? ie. <u>Be a baby/house-sitter</u>; the baby monitor, make sure Sally plays nice with little Tommy in the other room, alert you and the police/fire dept. for emergencies while you are away OR <u>be the buttler</u>; the paper boy, milk-man(if you do that in your neibourhood), random or expected guests and friends/family("Excuse me miss Linda your neice Sally is at the front door, she seems upset.").
Barkeep: Short handed? Limited in your knowlage of mixing drinks? Unsure of this guy has had WAY too many and don't really want to deal with him? Add a built-in breath-a-lizer and knowlage base of over thousands different types of drinks and you have yourself one handy helper and new employee of the month!
Street Janitor: I grew up in Toronto and let me tell you, I can't remember a time when I didn't almost step in someones dropped food or mystery substance. Big cities can be messy places esp. in the western world no matter how many 'Do not polute!' signs you put up. So why not get some help in cleanning up? He can tell the difference between a lost valuable(like a watch or a ear ring) and crumpled paper, dropped food and even those discusting unmentionables such as those 'other other white paint stains' and that which our four legged best friends leave.
Front desk attendant: Good help is always hard to find. Especially those always friendly, very knowlageble, people persons. Well who says you need a person? why not a people bot? C3PO had a good concept. You walk into a huge office building with a lot of different companies and offices; people can get lost! They need directions OR they need to see if their friend/coligue is in thier place of work. The can be very demanding on the front desk person, but not the front desk robot! He has a charming set of manners, converses in several languages and dilects, has great knowlage of the building and it's empoyee's locations. He is the perfect person to greet you at the door.
Well those are all the ones I can think of off the top of my head. They would obviously come in different types of bodies(more human or more robotic), methods of movement, communication, interfacing with standardized data ports, power needs, etc. All reflecting their different purposes.
I believe that we are closely approaching the age of robotics and it will soon become a part of our everyday life. What applications there are, I'm not sure. But hopefully we will soon see it start to surface. Much like that of my robotic vacuume at work right now.
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