Designing Useful Robots
D.L. Bisset · IGI Global eBooks · 2011
This chapter explores the challenges presented by the introduction of robots into our everyday lives, examining technical and design issues as well as ethical and business issues. It also examines the process of designing and specifying useful robots and highlights the practical difficulties in testing and guaranteeing behaviour and function in adaptive systems. The chapter also briefly reviews the current state of robotics in Europe and the global robotic marketplace. It argues that it is essential, for the generation of a viable industry, for the Academic and Business sectors to work together to solve the fundamental technical and ethical problems that can potentially impede the development and deployment of autonomous robotic systems. It details the reality and expectations in healthcare robotics examining the demographics and deployment difficulties this domain will face. Finally it challenges the assumption that Neural Computation is the technology of choice for building autonomous cognitive systems and points out the difficulties inherent in using adaptive “holistic” systems within the performance oriented ethos of the product design engineer.