When it comes to robots, different people have different ideas about their role in our society. Some think robots should do all our work for us, while others believe we should use them more sparingly. But there seems to be one dream that is shared by pretty much everyone, and that is the dream of a robot butler. A humanoid robot that takes care of all the house chores for us
The dream is closer than you think
In the past few years, we have seen more and more companies showing off their vision of a robotic butler with some awe-inspiring demonstrations.
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Take, for example, ‘Toyota’s research institute’ robots that are being trained on how to manage the homes of tomorrow. These tall, handy robots are not programmed for specific tasks. Instead, the researchers teach them how to make sense of the world around them. What is a cup? How do you pick it up? What is the best place to put it? The researchers help the robot understand the world by looking at it from his perspective using a VR headset and then showing him what a human being would do in the same situation. The robots are trained for various chores around the house and can even do the shopping! These robots are not prototypes for a specific product; their function is to help future robots navigate and perform tasks around our homes.
And if you’re looking for something a bit more tangible, how about UBTECH’s “walker X” - A fully functional humanoid robot capable of performing many different tasks. The name “walker” is not surprising since the robot can walk around freely at a top speed of 3 kilometers per hour. He can walk up and down slopes, on various terrains, and even up and down the stairs. Meaning he can get anywhere he is needed around the house.
Walker X can perform a wide range of household tasks, including serving tea, watering the flowers, wiping surfaces, operating the vacuum cleaner, and even giving gentle massages. There are no details about the official release date or price for this impressive robot, but UBTECH seems to be making giant steps, pun intended, towards a finished product ready for commercial use.
Another interesting robotic butler is Samsung's “bot handy.” The least ‘human’ of all the robots featured in this video. This little robot was shown at CES 2021; it is equipped with one long arm and can perform different tasks around the house, such as loading the dishwasher by itself, picking up the laundry, and even pouring a glass of wine. Samsung says “bot handy” will be able to perform all these different tasks straight out of the box without the need to teach it the layout of your house or what your dishes look like. It’s important to understand that the “bot handy” is just a concept at this stage; in fact, the robot you are seeing in this demo was done entirely in CGI. But still, the fact that mainstream companies, such as Samsung, are already showing their concepts for robotic butlers means that we should be able to buy one pretty soon.
And let’s not forget Tesla’s plan to release their own humanoid robot, nicknamed “Optimus.” not much is known about the robot at this point. Still, Elon Musk said he expects the Optimus project to be more significant and worth more than the company's electric vehicles.
And of course, we can’t forget our own robot “Gary.” The multi-purpose robot designed to help with all your needs, whether it’s cleaning your house, at a hospital helping patients, or in a hotel, making the beds, and bringing towels to guests.
What seemed to be a distant dream of a robotic butler taking care of all your household chores is quickly becoming a reality. And the question is just “which one should you buy?”
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