Technology clears a path for putting robots to work

LAS VEGAS -- Robots have been instrumental in exploring Mars and doing heavy-duty industrial work for years, but robots for consumers have mostly been pricey toys. Now, as the largest consumer technology trade show opens today in Las Vegas, personal robots are striding away from the toy aisle and toward the tool department.

The Consumer Electronics Show is featuring robotics amid well-entrenched consumer electronics "techzones" devoted to gaming and mobile broadband for only the second time. And this year the emphasis is beginning to shift away from robots that entertain and toward robots that labor in the home and the office.

"They're ready for prime time," said Tara Dunion , director of communications for the Consumer Electronics Association. "Overall, this trend seems like its time has come," as military and industrial applications are "filtering down to the consumer space, where it's cuter and friendlier and more helpful -- serving as a fun companion or doing something useful for consumers they might not want to do themselves."

With an eye toward capturing a nascent market, two major technology companies are showcasing new tool kits that they hope will empower entrepreneurs to build the next generation of robots.

iRobot Corp . of Burlington, which made its name building bomb-disposal robots for the US military and its fortune selling vacuum cleaner robots to civilians, will today present the Create -- a $129 bare-bones platform for hobbyists who want a head start in building their dream machines.

"There's a lot of people with a passion to build robots," said iRobot cofounder and chairman Helen Greiner . "We let you basically hit the ground running -- literally running."

Also on display will be software that Microsoft Corp. released last month, promising that it would transform the robotics industry the way the Windows operating system helped create the personal computer market. In Scientific American's cover story this month, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates compared the robotics industry today to the computer business three decades ago, adding that the world may be "on the verge of a new era, when the PC will get up off the desktop."

The consumer robotics industry is about five years old, and rests on the work of a few companies like iRobot and Hong Kong toy-maker WowWee Ltd., according to Neena Buck, vice president of emerging frontiers at Strategy Analytics in Newton. iRobot has sold more than 2 million of its Roomba vacuum cleaners since it introduced the product in 2002, and 3 million of WowWee's Robosapiens have been sold since the toy was introduced four years ago.

As computing power has grown and the costs for sensors, memory, and other technology has dropped, robots have become cheaper. But many think that a key element in making the "personal robot" a reality will be developing a common platform like Create or Microsoft Robotics Studio that will allow hobbyists, students, and entrepreneurs to play around with creating robots without having to become an expert in every aspect of robotics.

People in the robot industry "basically were all saying something significant is beginning to come together here, but it's being limited; it's being held back because it's just too hard for people to invest and get started in this technology," said Tandy Trower, general manager of the Microsoft Robotics Group.

That's exactly what Microsoft, iRobot, and other robot-makers hope to do as they release new robots and software that allow people to use their products as a starting point to create something of their own.

In the past, people "were rebuilding things from scratch. People would spend two years developing" a robot "that would move around and do not much else," said Buck. "Now you don't have to worry about writing the software to do basic things -- you can build on top of it and go further."

That means that everyone who has wanted a robot housekeeper, babysitter, tutor, or companion can use the tools to start experimenting.

After finding that robot hobbyists were trying to customize the company's Roomba home vacuum cleaners, iRobot in 2005 introduced a kit to let users reprogram the machines. Later, it added a data port, so Roomba owners could plug them into a home computer and rewrite their software.

The Create dispenses entirely with the Roomba's vacuum motor, rotating brushes, and dust bin. What remains is the complex mass of sensors, chips, and electric motors that let a Roomba find its way around a cluttered room and avoid falling down flights of stairs. In addition, the Roomba features a removable "command module" -- a low-powered, programmable computer that can control the Create mobile base, as well as mechanical components bolted on top.

The idea tickled iRobot's engineers, who have used the Create to build a host of practical and puckish gadgets. A team of iRobot engineers in India combined a Create with an ink jet printer. The result is a robot that makes "rangoli," a type of Indian art made by pouring colored sand in intricate patterns on the floor. In a videotaped demonstration, a Create sifted the iRobot corporate logo onto a carpeted floor -- and a standard Roomba came along afterward to clean it up.

Another Create-based robot was programmed to act as a hotel bellhop, carrying a guest's baggage as she walked ahead of it. Still another uses an infrared camera to spot litter, and a mechanical arm to pick it up.

By bolting custom-made mechanical components onto the Create, and loading new software, a robot designer can cobble together a vast array of specialized robots, limited only by the Create's battery and load-bearing capacity.

Buck at Strategy Analytics said iRobot has found a clever way to extend its dominance of the consumer robot market. Just as Windows became a software standard used by programmers worldwide, Create could become the basis for a robotic "ecosystem," with engineers worldwide using it as the base platform for small, cheap robots. "I do think that's sort of the trend, and iRobot has picked up on it," Buck said.

Beyond cool gadgets, robots also represent the next frontier in computing -- machines that are aware and responsive to their surroundings.

"The industry is looking for kind of the next big thing -- you're starting to look at devices that bridge the gap between the virtual world of computers and the real world of mechanical objects," said Dan Kara , president of Robotics Trends in Upton. "How can we take advantage of computing power, but bring it so it does something in the real world?"

In Las Vegas, in addition to the usual floor-cleaning robots on display, the Honda humanoid robot ASIMO will demonstrate his newest running trick, and robots that can do everything from patrol your home to fly will grace the convention floor.

iRobi, a cute R2D2-shaped robot made by Korean company Yujin Robotics, will demonstrate its ability to tutor the kids in English, entertain the family, and act as a "home cop," on the lookout for intruders. MIURO, a Japanese robot with a camera and speakers, can move autonomously to different rooms to play music wirelessly from a computer or iPod, choosing "the best listening position for the user." And WowWee Ltd. will unleash a new line of robotic toys.