Industrial machines that build cars and the machines that work in your home are worlds apart. <\/p>\n
But the CEO of Kuka, one of the biggest industrial robot makers, said in an interview in the Financial Times on Sunday that the company is planning to make a personal consumer robot. <\/p>\n
Germany-based Kuka was bought by Chinese home appliance maker Midea last year in a $5 billion deal. Industrial robots from Kuka are used to build cars for Tesla and airplanes for Boeing. <\/p>\n
Midea is not doing any robotics or automation, so Kuka is automation for Midea, said CEO Till Reuter And they are very well connected to the consumer industry. So together we want to do consumer robotics. <\/p>\n
Right now, most digital assistants for the home dont leave the tabletop, and are essentially internet-connected speakers with adroit voice-enabled artificial intelligence software, like Amazons Echo and Googles Home. <\/p>\n
But Kukas expertise in building machines that move on their own, combined with Mideas deep understanding of home appliances, could be the right combination for making a consumer home robot thats actually useful. <\/p>\n
Home robots that move generally only do one chore, like vacuum or mop, but they continue to sell. Last year, the market value of domestic robots grew nearly 26 percent from the year before, according to research from Loup Ventures and the International Federation of Robotics. By 2025, the market for home robots is expected to grow to $4.4 billion. To put that growth in perspective, the market value of domestic robots in 2016 was $1.4 billion. <\/p>\n
Midea isnt the only company poised to enter the home robot market. Earlier this month, the Japanese company SoftBank announced that it is buying Boston Dynamics, as well as Japanese legged-robot maker Schaft, from Google parent company Alphabet for an undisclosed amount. Boston Dynamics is considered one of the best robotics firms in the world for its versatile, legged robots that can maneuver over diverse terrain, as well as environments made for humans. But those robots have been primarily built for military research, not for the home. <\/p>\n
Since it acquired a majority share of robot maker Aldebaran in 2012, SoftBank has been working to bring its humanoid Pepper robot to more retail settings, and even to some homes in Japan. Pepper has a wheeled base so it cant climb stairs and only uses its hands to gesticulate. The robot is mostly at work in stores, helping shoppers find things and answering basic questions. Combining Boston Dynamics ability to build agile machinery with the team behind the friendly-looking Pepper could position SoftBank to build a robot thats much more useful. <\/p>\n
Japanese carmakers Honda and Toyota have also been working on robotic assistants for the home. Their inventions, so far, have primarily focused on addressing the needs of Japans growing elderly population. <\/p>\n
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