How Far Away are We from Intelligent Service Robots?

    They can do cleaning, serve drinks and can carry out simple logical reasoning… Lately, the “Kejia” intelligent service robot independently developed by China won the service robot competition in the 18th Robcup. This enables people to know that robots can not only be employed in production lines, and they are more expected to enter our daily lives in the near future.
    The International Federation of Robotics divides robots into two categories i.e. industrial robots and service robots. As the “pearl inlaid in the crown of manufacturing industry”, application of industrial robots has been rapidly developed from automatic production lines for welding, painting and assembling to transport lines for packing and palletizing. In addition to manufacturing industry, service robots can enter every aspect of social lives in diverse forms such as home service robots, special service robots, medical robots, rehabilitation robots, underwater robots, bionic robots, etc.
    According to industrial experts, China has already become the largest robot sales market in the world at present. However, this is mainly referred to the industrial robots. The intelligent service robots play a significant role in deciding the future development direction. With the robot technologies becoming increasingly mature, home service robots are expected to be consumer electronics that enter families on a large scale following computers and phones, which can provide numerous housekeeping services such as accompanying, guarding, educating, cleaning, etc.
    China started late in R&D of robot technologies and obvious gaps are still existing in development of service robot sector with others.
    Recent years, China has successively issued robot development plans in various aspects. Intelligent service robots have been listed in mid-and-long term scientific & technological development outline of China since 2006 and the “Twelfth Five-year” special plan for scientific & technologic development of service robots was issued in 2012.
    Currently, some research agencies and enterprises in China are now pursuing scientific & technological breakthroughs in intelligent robots.
    According to experts, China should pay attention to the regular patterns and latest trends of robot technologies and industrial development and positively conduct interdisciplinary large project cooperation combining production, education, research and application, in order to make China one of the largest robot application countries and to become a leading country in robot R&D and manufacturing.
    Up to now, the global market scale of service robots are rapidly expanding. According to insiders, the acceleration of urbanization process, the ageing trend of population, the strong demand in medical and education as well as other factors are expected to develop a world’s largest service robot market in China.
    Industrialization of service robots in China is being steadily promoted and the China Robot Industry Alliance was established in 2013. Not long ago, the USTC, developer of “Kejia” has signed a framework agreement for strategic cooperation regarding development of robot industry with Anhui Hefei High-tech Zone and Anhui Goocoo Investment Group, making mass production of “Kejia” more practical. It is supposed that in the near future, every family can be able to possess a robot nanny by spending only tens of thousands Yuan.