Service Robots from Earth to Space.... and Back

Service applications of robotic technologies begin to appear in several aspects of daily life, motivated by a number of different reasons. One of the most significant is the over-aging and decreasing of the population in Europe that will cause dramatic social changes in all European Countries. The poor state of most of Health Care Systems in Europe is not promising the level of assistance and the resources needed by the aging population, and social as well as technological counter-measures are being considered. Short of indiscriminately opening the borders to a large number of immigrants to fill the expected needed positions, a solution which may create significant social tensions and goes against some popular favor, an ambitious alternative is to foster emerging new technologies, especially robotics, and direct them to the development of versatile mechatronic and robotic assistant systems. Service robots or robot assistants might be used to automate burdensome daily routine tasks such as cleaning, housekeeping, personal logistics. In a professional environment, they may support an elderly worker in tasks that demand physical endurance. It is foreseeable that in not too distant future, robotic devices assisting and serving humans in domestic as well as professional environment will become as common and easy to use and to program as today's VCRs or dishwashers. Unlike industrial robots, service robots are not designed for industrial automation. They can improve the standards of living for all members of our society significantly, for those with limited physical abilities, disabled or elderly people, as well as for those who do not have those limitations. They will increasingly free humans from burdensome daily routines and entertain their users through theirs ability to communicate at the same time. The ultimate service robot will be a robotic errand boy, a combination between a small collapsible indoor fork lift and a mobile manipulator, which can lift and carry heavy objects and can be programmed and/or controlled by a haptic interface.