I know, I know, it’s like something out a dream. Finally, there’s a robot that can grab a beer out of the fridge. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the future.
Robots have been around for quite some time, but it isn’t until now that many people are beginning to really invest money and time into worthwhile causes. Steve Cousins, former Xerox veteran, believes that the usage of robots will become as prolific as the use of the home computer in the near future, and has created some of his own personal robots at his startup firm Willow Garage.
Currently the star of the show is PR2, a robot that can be programmed to pretty much do anything. Bosch has turned around and programmed the robot to do everything from simple tasks like delivering mail to more complex jobs like woodworking and of course the all-important beer-fetching.
The robot, like the many others that Willows Garage has created, can “learn” different things if it is inputted with an app that tells it what to do. Another neat robot is the TurtleBot which utilizes the Microsoft Kinect and enables the little bot the ability to drive, build 3D pictures, take panoramas and even bring you food.
One of the greatest things about all the robots made by Willow Garage is that they come with the open source robotic operating system (ROS), allowing anyone proficient in Linux to create their own programs, select some from the ROS, or buy them at the Robot App Store.
The dream of having your own personal robot do the household chores is not far off. Which probably means the day of their uprising isn’t far off either. Still, I for one welcome our new robot overlords.
