Why is it more difficult to build household robot servants than robotic vacuum cleaners or automated warehouse workers?

Why is it more difficult to build household robot servants than robotic vacuum cleaners or automated warehouse workers?

With recent advancements in artificial intelligence and robotics technology, there is an increased interest in developing and marketing household robots capable of performing a variety of domestic tasks.

Tesla is developing a humanoid robot that, according to CEO Elon Musk, could be used to cook meals and assist the elderly. Amazon recently acquired iRobot, a prominent robotic vacuum manufacturer, and has been heavily investing in robotics technology through the Amazon Robotics program to bring it to the consumer market. Dyson is known for making powerful vacuum cleaners. In May 2022, the company announced plans to build the largest robotics center in the United Kingdom. This center will be used to develop household robots that can do everyday tasks in homes.

Despite growing interest, potential customers may have to wait some time for those robots to hit the market. While smart thermostats and security systems are common in homes today, commercial use of household robots is still in its early stages.

As a robotics researcher, I know firsthand how much more difficult it is to build household robots than smart digital devices or industrial robots. 

Object manipulation: One significant distinction between digital and robotic devices is that household robots must manipulate objects through physical contact in order to carry out their tasks. They must carry the plates, move the chairs, and pick up and place dirty laundry in the washer. These operations necessitate the robot's ability to handle fragile, soft, and occasionally heavy objects with irregular shapes.

In simulated environments, cutting-edge AI and machine learning algorithms perform admirably. However, contact with real-world objects frequently trips them up. This occurs because physical contact is frequently difficult to model and even more difficult to control. Even though it's easy for a person to do these things, it's hard for household robots to get to the point where they can handle objects as well as a person.

Control and sensing are two aspects of manipulating objects that robots struggle with. Many pick-and-place robot manipulators, such as those used on assembly lines, are equipped with a simple gripper or specialized tools dedicated to specific tasks, such as grasping and carrying a specific part. They frequently struggle to manipulate objects with irregular shapes or elastic materials, particularly because they lack the efficient force feedback, or haptic feedback, that humans are born with. Building a general-purpose robot hand with flexible fingers remains technically difficult and costly.

It is also worth noting that traditional robot manipulators require a stable platform to operate accurately, but their accuracy suffers significantly when used with moving platforms, particularly on a variety of surfaces. Coordinating how a mobile robot moves and what it can do with its hands is an open problem in robotics that needs to be solved before widely capable household robots can be sold.

They appreciate structure

The environment and sequence of tasks are strictly organized in an assembly line or a warehouse. This enables engineers to program the robot's movements in advance or to use simple methods such as QR codes to locate objects or target locations. However, household items are frequently disorganized and arranged haphazardly.

In their workspaces, home robots must deal with numerous uncertainties. To begin with, the robot must locate and identify the target item among many others. To reach the item and perform the tasks, it is frequently necessary to clear or avoid other obstacles in the workspace. This means that the robot needs to have a good way of figuring out what is going on around it, good navigation skills, and strong and accurate manipulation skills.

Users of robot vacuums, for example, are aware that they must remove all small furniture and other obstacles from the floor, such as cables, because even the best robot vacuum cannot clear them on its own. Even harder, the robot has to work in a place where people and pets walk around, which adds moving obstacles to the mix.

Keeping things simple 

A humanoid robot with a black head, shoulders, and body and the name Tesla written across its chest.

Many household tasks appear simple to humans but are far too complex for robots. Industrial robots are ideal for repetitive tasks where the robot's motion can be preprogrammed. However, household tasks are frequently unique to the situation and may be full of surprises, necessitating the robot to make constant decisions and change its route in order to complete the tasks. 

Consider cooking or dishwashing. During a few minutes of cooking, you may find yourself holding a sauté pan, a spatula, a stove knob, a refrigerator door handle, an egg, and a bottle of cooking oil. To wash a pan, use one hand to move it while scrubbing with the other, ensuring that all cooked-on food residue is removed and all soap is rinsed away.

In recent years, there has been significant progress in using machine learning to train robots to make intelligent decisions when picking and placing various objects, which means grasping and moving objects from one location to another. But even the best learning algorithms would have a hard time teaching robots how to use all kinds of kitchen tools and home appliances.

Not to mention that the majority of people's houses have stairs, narrow passageways, and high shelves.These difficult-to-reach areas limit the use of today's mobile robots, which typically have wheels or four legs. Humanoid robots are made to look like the environments that people make and organize for themselves. However, they haven't been used reliably anywhere outside of a lab.

Building special-purpose robots, such as robot vacuum cleaners or kitchen robots, is one solution to task complexity. In the near future, many different types of such devices are likely to be developed. General-purpose home robots, on the other hand, I believe are still a long way off.