Nao, an autonomous programmable humanoid robot developed by Aldebaran Robotics, can be a teaching assistant and costs about $13,000.
Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images
Single-purpose robots like the Roomba vacuum have become wildly successful.Industry leaders say that multipurpose robots for consumers may still be a decade or more away.Part of the hurdle to adoption will be justifying the cost of general-purpose robots.
How much would you pay for a personal assistant robot that can mow the lawn, vacuum the floors, and wash the dishes?
That cost will be an issue industry leaders say could be the determining factor for the future commercial success of multi- or general-purpose robots.
Single-purpose robots that can carry out a specific task, such as the Roomba vacuum, have become wildly successful. According to iRobot, the makers of Roomba, the company has sold more than 40 million units since its founding in 1990.
So there’s a desire for robots that can help with at least one of the workloads in the house. However, industry leaders argue that part of Roomba’s success is its accessibility.
“Robot vacuums have long delivered the value for their price point, hence their popularity,” Deepu Talla, Nvidia‘s vice president and general manager for embedded and edge computing, told TechCrunch in an interview published Saturday.
On Amazon, a Roomba that can vacuum and self-charge can cost as little as $159. But a personal assistant robot that can carry out multiple tasks throughout the house? Boston Dynamics CTO Aaron Saunders previously told TechCrunch that those robots might cost as much as a car, and consumers must be convinced that the product’s services justify the cost.
“When would you pay as much for a robot as you would a car?” Saunders asked. “When it achieves the same level of dependability and value you have come to take for granted in the amazing machines we use to transport us around the world. “
Nvidia’s Talla similarly said that “the trade-off that’s been hindering home robots, to date, is the axis of how much someone is willing to pay for their robot and whether the robot delivers that value.”
A family uses a temi robot to video chat.
temi
The temi personal assistant robot, which operates almost like a Siri or Alexa on wheels and takes commands as it follows a user around can cost about $4,000.
Softbank Robotics’ NAO humanoid robot, which is less than two feet tall and advertised as a programmable assistant, costs about $13,000.
Industry leaders like Talla and Saunders envision general-purpose robots decades from now that will be much more complex, can navigate less structured environments on the fly, and can complete multiple tasks.
There are a lot of other challenges the robotics field needs to solve, including perfecting the humanoid form factor that Saunders said will be the “obvious match to a world built around our form.”
A consumer-friendly price point will just be one of those challenges.
Spokespersons for iRobot, temi, and Softbank Robotics did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent during the weekend.