The field of robotics has been making huge strides as of late. Corporations are spending hundreds of millions of dollars in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence research, and their investments are starting to pay off. What was once considered sci-fi may soon become reality. As the applications for these machines widen, their popularity in various industries continues to grow. People are quickly realizing that robots have the potential to impact lives, and livelihoods, around the globe.
Healthcare is an industry that has been investing huge amounts of money into robotics. Hospitals and physicians around the globe have spent the last two decades exploring the ways that robots can be best utilized. Teleoperated robot –assisted surgical systems, such as daVinci, have been used successfully on millions of patients since 2000. With the cost of robots coming down and their abilities increasing, the future of healthcare robots is gaining momentum. Medical applications for robot-led surgeries and other procedures will continue to expand as the software and capacity of these robots grows.
Autonomous mobile robots are being used in hospitals to provide medications safely to nurses who then administer them to their patients. These secure robots can travel the miles of hospital hallways, saving nurses precious time that can be better spent caring for patients. These medication dispensing systems are equipped with tracking software which allows nurses and doctors to tell exactly when their medications will arrive. Hospitals that have integrated these robots into their programs have reported tremendous decreases in the number of missing medication requests. When used properly, these robots can help reduce costs and improve patient care.
A university in Singapore recently finished building a healthcare companion robot named Nadine. This ground-breaking robot looks eerily human. She has the ability to make eye contact and move her arms and hands. When asked a question, Nadine can respond appropriately and ask you a follow-up question. She has been programmed with facial recognition software that allows her to store the facial features of people she has met before in her memory. Nadine was created with the hope of providing companionship to those suffering from illnesses such as depression. Child-size models are being conceptualized to serve as child companions to children dealing with diseases and other traumatic issues.
The manufacturing industry has been utilizing robots in more innovative ways over the past few years. There are presently an estimated 2 million robots being used globally by manufacturing companies. And that number is expected to skyrocket in the next decade. Patents for robotics and autonomous systems rose from 1,400 to over 5,000 in the last ten years. This staggering increase in robot-related inventions highlights the ever-increasing role that they will play in this field.
Robots have traditionally been used by manufacturers for single, repetitive tasks. The machines were bulky and dangerous, and required no human interaction. As the design of these robots evolves, they will be taking on responsibilities that have traditionally required humans to perform. Companies will begin to use robots to handle jobs that require precision, stamina, and strength that cannot be matched by people. Advances in robotic technology have created machines that have the ability to detect sounds, compute high-level algorithms, recognize voices and problem-solve issues that arise on the factory floor.
This shift towards robot-dense manufacturing raises questions about the future of jobs for workers in this field. While it is natural to assume that the increased use of robots will lead to lay-offs, that may not necessarily be the case. Companies are using robots to enhance production and improve quality standards. The growth created by these increases leads to a need for engineers to maintain the robots and sales representatives to support higher volumes of production. New job opportunities will arise from the need to engineer and manage the robotic operating systems.
Online retail giant, Amazon, believes strongly that robots will play an important role in all aspects of our lives in future years. Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, recently held an invitation-only conference that focused on encouraging inspiration in technology’s hottest fields. Attendees included academics, inventors, journalists, authors and fortune 500 executives.
Robots were heavily featured at the four day event. Hundreds of people gathered to explore the latest developments in the field of robotics and explore the various ways which robots can augment the human experience. Discussions included robotic advances in the fields of retail operations, space exploration, and health care. Drones, four-legged robots, and robots capable of swimming were on display for the guests to interact with.
The importance of this type of innovative, hands-on gathering of today’s industry leaders and thinkers cannot be understated. It underscores the continuous upswing in the trend of robotics in today’s world. We will continue to see robots assimilated into our lives in ever-increasing ways. From providing care and companionship for the ill and elderly, to packaging goods in warehouses or providing customer service to shoppers in retail stores, the applications for integrating robots into mainstream society seem limitless.
