HUMANOID robots with important jobs in hospitals, nursing homes, and even hotels are just years away from common use in Australia, according to researchers, but the country still has a long way to go to catch up to robotic developments in neighbouring countries.
While robots in our region are already serving as waiters, receptionists, therapists, and fully staffing hotels, experts say Australian robots are more likely to first appear in business settings over the next two years before they begin holding down conversations socially.
Drone deliveries and home deliveries by robots are still on the menu, however.
Nagasaki’s Henn-na Hotel features a robot-saur at your service.
Nagasaki’s Henn-na Hotel features a robot-saur at your service.Source:Supplied
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Creative Robotics Lab director Mari Velonaki from the University of New South Wales said she expects a lot more robots to join Australian businesses “within the next two or three years” thanks to the backing of big business and greater investment in research.
“Australia is very progressive. We don’t have the population, we don’t have 150 universities working in robotics, but the area is not at all ignored,” she said.
“We’re just not rushing into things.”
A group of universities and organisations including UNSW and St Vincent’s Hospital would open the National Facility for Human-Robot Interaction Research by the end of the year, she said, allowing more trials of robots in social settings.
A man works next to a robot during the 2016 Japan Expo exhibition in France. Picture: Bertrand Guay /
A man works next to a robot during the 2016 Japan Expo exhibition in France. Picture: Bertrand Guay /Source:AFP
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Other Asia Pacific countries including Japan and China are currently leading the way in human-robot relations, however.
In Japan, robots staff the Nagasaki Henn-na Hotel almost entirely — just 10 humans watch over its 80 robotic workers — taking over tasks from checking in to storing goods in a “robotic cloak room”.
Robots are also used to deliver information in some Japanese banks, and Toshiba’s incredibly human-like Aiko Chihira staffs the information desk in a Tokyo department store.
In China, numerous robot-themed restaurants feature robots as waiters, kitchen helpers, entertainers, and even maitre ds.
Robots work along with staffers at restaurants in China. We’re not quite sure what this human employee thinks about it all. Picture: Liu Yuan/Xinhua/Zuma Press
Robots work along with staffers at restaurants in China. We’re not quite sure what this human employee thinks about it all. Picture: Liu Yuan/Xinhua/Zuma PressSource:Supplied
The robotic staff members have limitations, however, and are unable to lift heavy dishes or place the food in front of diners.
Curtin University lecturer Dr Eleanor Sandry said human-robot interactions were still far from perfect — “we’ve seen robot waiters being fired for spilling the soup” — but could improve with greater research.
“There are certainly challenges to getting robots in those roles to act flexibly,” she said.
“They have to learn to be able to deal with new situations.”
Dr Sandry said robots were already being introduced to industrial settings in Australia, and could be used by small businesses next, with models like Rethink Robotics’ Baxter able to be shown what to do rather than programmed with code, making the technology more accessible.
Delivery robot Dash at the Crowne Plaza San Jose-Silicon Valley. Picture: Supplied
Delivery robot Dash at the Crowne Plaza San Jose-Silicon Valley. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied
Some companies are also getting ahead of the trend to make robotics mainstream in Australia.
Domino’s managing director Don Meij said the company would continue to invest in its autonomous pizza-delivering robot, DRU, after “customer trials in selected areas in Hamilton, Brisbane, to see how customers and the general community interact with him”.
“DRU is in the next phase of development to implement improvements to the system upon feedback and results of the customer trials.”
A porter robot at Nagasaki’s Henn-na Hotel is simple, functional and doesn’t require tipping.
A porter robot at Nagasaki’s Henn-na Hotel is simple, functional and doesn’t require tipping.Source:Supplied
The restaurant chain is yet to reveal a date for a further trial or its use, however.
An Australia Post spokesman said the organisation had “continued our discussions” with the Civil Aviation and Safety Authority following “closed-field” trials of drone deliveries in April this year.
The unorthodox airmail service was due to be tested again later this year.
Ms Velonaki said much more research was needed to ensure robots were effective in their new roles, however, and that they solved problems rather than created new ones.
A robot helping nurses to lift hospital patients into wheelchairs made sense, she said, while European airport trials putting robots in charge of handling luggage had created confusion.