Companion Robot - Not Only Chatting With You As Simple As
Nowadays, the development of technology has brought about the advent of companion intelligent robots. The most popular companion robot on the market at present is the 300 units of Pepper that Japan's Softbank Group sold to R&D personnel in a limited number on February 27, 2015. Pepper is different from traditional robots, it has a certain ability to "perceive" human emotions, so it is also called an "emotional robot".
Because Pepper has a built-in "emotional engine", it can read and analyze human facial expressions, voice intonation, and speech content to "understand" human current emotions, to flexibly respond to various situations. For example, Pepper will play the owner's favorite song if the owner comes home with a depressed face,As Sun Zhengyi said in the press conference: "The reason why we launch our companion robot Pepper is to make users feel happier and minimize sad emotions."
What's even more surprising is that the longer it spends with the owner, the more Pepper will understand the owner's habits, and it will be better able to read the owner's emotions in a programmed way. In short, Pepper gets smarter over time. Following Pepper, the companion robot industry has sprung up like mushrooms after rain. Among them, Miro, a bionic pet robot developed in the UK, is very popular among users. With bunny ears, dog faces, sea creature body colors, and more, Miro moves like a real animal. Its left and right eyes are equipped with cameras, which can judge the distance and position and can also respond to sound. It is smarter than ordinary pets. It can be used to accompany the elderly and children who are alone at home and relieve their loneliness.
The use and development of voice interaction have enabled companion robots to "communicate" with people. This feature will make it easier for people to get along with robots. In the future, companion robots will no longer be cold machines, but will establish emotional connections with people after "communicating" and "association" with them. They are bound to become integral members of the family.
The prospect of the companion robot market is beyond imagination:
Companion robots are constantly developing, and the market for companion robots is also constantly being developed. Among them, home care will be a huge market. By 2022, the number of seniors in my country will reach 257 million. The increase in aging and the typical "4-2-1" Chinese family structure have laid a huge market foundation for intelligent companion robots that can provide service functions such as emotional communication and children's companionship.
People's needs have paved the way for a huge market for companion robots. At the same time, in recent years, my country's companion robots have also ushered in good development opportunities. In the past five years, the development of China's robot market has maintained an average annual growth rate of more than 30%. By 2018, the global robot market will reach 29.82 billion dollars, and the Chinese robot market is expected to reach 8.74 billion dollars. In the proportion of robot product user attention distribution, companion robots are as high as 32.2%, and their attention has already ranked first. It can be seen that most of the users who pay attention to and purchase robot products choose companion robots. A blue ocean market of companion robots with a scale of 100 billion has been slowly spreading.
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This companion robot named metaCat is adorable. It's produced by Elephant Robotics Its dynamic eyes can wink, blink and shrink, and its marshmallow fur relaxes people when people pets and hug it. Its high-quality acrylic fur is soft to the touch and easy to clean. Multiple layers of skin with different lengths give me a comfy, cozy, warm feeling. With deep learning based on animal motion and interaction, metaCat can interact with people like real animals. It can relieve the owner's exhaustion, relax nerves and relieve stress by simply embracing. It responds to the owner's movements as soon as touching it. And it's so interesting because of its interactive meowing and purring. Elephant Robotics insists that the electronic cat toy metaCat's meowing & 25-150 Hertz* purring relax people's nerves, according to Elizabeth von Muggenthaler, president-acoustics at the Fauna Communications Research Institute in North Carolina. To be honest, I was skeptical at first. It meowed and purred with every touch, making people feel that not only did it make me feel warm, but I could also give him a sense of comfort. I got a little hooked on this kind of interaction without noticing.
Back in 2020 at CES, a bionic AI robot pet MarsCat caught the attention of journalists and cat lovers worldwide for its highly forward-looking concept, and its vivid design which received unanimous praise and recognition. Likewise, this robot pet can walk, run, sit, stretch, express meows, and do other gestures independently. After two years of ongoing R&D, MarsCat has started mass production to meet the increasing demand from the community, especially those with cat allergies and a sense of isolation.
Companion robots can provide different services according to the needs of different users, which is the trend that the development of the robot industry should pursue. But even so, the artificial intelligence level of companion robots is still in its infancy. Robots can only imitate human emotions through programming, and they do not have their own emotions. Therefore, there is still a long way to go before a perfect companion robot like Daryl.
