Where is the "help robot" that appears in the science fiction?Home robot that can be sandwiched between expectations and reality

Jet pack, flying car, teleportation ──.So far, science fiction works have promised the appearance of various new technologies.They have not yet been realized.

Among them, what is particularly convenient is a helping robot like "Rosie" that appeared in the TV anime "Space Family Jetson".

2018, which disappeared after the appearance of a home robot appeared in 2018

In 2018, it seemed as if a home robot had made a big leap.It is worth noting that two types of robots, "KURI" and "Jibo", appeared in the sound.

KURI, which has a cute appearance similar to the R2-D2 of Star Wars, moves around and takes pictures of dinner parties [Japanese version].Jibo is a desktop robot with a display on the face, has a function like Alexa, but has a special skill to dance.

However, these robots disappeared as soon as they appeared.

SFに登場する「お手伝いロボット」はどこに? 期待と現実の間で板挟みになる家庭用ロボット

In July 2018, Kuri's developer Mayfield Robotics announced that Kuri was discontinued, and one month later, he would fold the company itself.In November, Jibo went out of business.Another company Ticktock, which had developed a home robot, also announced the end of business in the spring of 2018.

What happened to a home robot?

Expectations that science fiction created too high

One of the reasons is that it was the first to be "useful".In other words, it was lacking in usefulness.

Kuri and jibo were rarely possible.Kuri was certainly cute, but the only thing I could do was to move around and interact with humans a little.Jibo teaches the weather forecast and sets an alarm, but it does not move over the counter, and it has become a "personal assistant that is far from Alexa's wisdom but is $ 900."rice field.

What is really expected to be a home robot is "dexterity to do various tasks" and "movement".At the same time, it is also a differentiation factor from AI assistants.

"This" movement "must be" the movement to do what humans want "," said Daniela Rus, the director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Research Institute.To tell."Just moving on the desk is not" the movement to do what humans want "."

When it comes to understanding people's requests, the second problem emerges.It is an excessive expectation.

What you expect from a robot should be almost unrealistic.You are not bad.With science fiction, our imagination about robots has greatly overwhelmed reality.

"The people of the world are expecting the Rosie of the Space Family Jetson. However, in reality we are still in the dawn of robot history.Robots are limited to one job, such as Rumba, "says Kate Darling, a MIT robot researcher.

Pitfalls of promotional video

It is not only writers and producers who mass -produce such illusions.It is the robot maker himself that this wrong expectation continues to be embraced.