Robot Reviews

Are we seeing the precursors of a real-life C3PO?

According to a recent study by ABI Research, personal robots, which include vacuum cleaner, security, educational, and toy robots, will hit over $5 billion worth of sales in 2015. That's more than four times the expected value for this year (2009), which is about $1.16 billion.

In the past, robots that found their way into homes were nothing more than intelligent machines designed to entertain. With the introduction of utilitarian robots like the Roomba, Rovio, and Looj, households have found them more useful - and subsequently worth the cost. With those costs going down and their usefulness going up, household members now want more of them.

The features of consumer robotics products have improved substantially. Samsung's Furot II (another vacuum cleaner robot like the Roomba), for instance, has a Visionary Mapping System that allows it to remember the places it's already been at. The system, in effect, enables the machine to perform its cleaning tasks more efficiently. 

Asians are still expected to be the biggest buyers of personal robots, followed by Americans, then the Europeans. Despite lagging behind Asia and the US in terms of sales, Western Europe is steadily showing its growing interest in these machines, particularly as to how well they can actually perform the tasks they are touted for.