Robotics in Service

The author brings the reader up-to-date with recent developments in areas such as robot senses and the simulation of robot operations. He then describes a whole range of new robot applications in manufacturing industries, service industries and in the home.

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The thesis of this book is that while "traditional" industrial robotics may currently be languishing in the technological doldrums, the way now lies open for robots and roboticists to exploit an almost limitless range of potential applications in the expanding service sector of the economy. Part I describes the current state and future potential of the various "enabling technologies" - sensors, vision, natural language processing, artificial intelligence, etc - which are now available for use in service robots. Engelberger stresses that although AI research still has a long, long way to go before it can realize its goal of building machines which are remotely comparable to human beings in terms of the range and extent of their intelligence, there is nonetheless a vast range of tools available to the roboticists which, given a little ingenuity and a willingness to shape the robot's environment to suit its abilities, can be put to practical use right now. Part II then goes on to discuss a wide variety of service and industrial applications where robots are already at work, under development or well within the scope of existing technologies.
As in his earlier book, Robots in Practice, Joseph Engelberger conveys the enthusiasm and excitement which he feels for robotics while keeping his feet firmly planted on the technical and economic ground. He is a missionary, but a missionary who always explains why his message makes good business sense. This book should be of interest to anyone involved in robotics; managers and others concerned with automation in a whole range of service industries; science and computer enthusiasts.