SERVICE ROBOTS
institutions such as nursing homes, hospitals and mental healthcare organisations the focus for the service robot is on observation, alerting and performing logistical tasks such as the distribution of food and mail. The robot may be deployed for calamities, for example during the night, by doing initial checkups so that employees can better assess a situation. The upper limbs of the robot will mainly be used to move around the area to open doors and operate elevators.
Service robot market A mature market already exists for industrial robots, with Japan and Germany being the major players. However, worldwide, service robots are still in their infancy. In Japan the focus is heavily on robots which simulate human traits – so-called humanoids – which can act as a ´buddy´ for the elderly. In America and Germany the focus lies mainly on autonomous service robots. Currently, an American company called Willow Garage1
is
the only company that actually offers a service robot – the Personal Robot 2 (PR2) – which comes close to what we envision. However, this service robot is mainly intended as a research robot and, partly because of its selling price of €400,000, is not currently commercially viable and employable. We believe that, with our acquired
knowledge, our relatively low-cost design and our cooperation with the market, we are at least two years ahead of our potential competitors. Two years is approximately the duration of the TSR project. We expect that if Rose BV can continue at the TSR speed, we can extend, or at least maintain, this advantage. We expect to need three years to be able to develop Rose into a finished product. The ‘classic’ care providers are also a form
of competition for the service robot as instead of using service robots in care there are other alternatives such a permanent physical home care.
Robot costs The costs of the service robots are assumed as follows (using rather pessimistic assumptions):
• The sales price of the robot will be €65,000 in 2015 and €29,000 in 2021;
• The robot is depreciated over a period of five years; and
• The price of a service contract is 20% of the sales price per year.
This means that the annual rental charges for a robot will be €26,000 in 2015 and €11,600 in 2021 excluding financing charges. In addition we assume that, to be able to
offer a comparable level of service to the other alternatives, one operator is needed to control ten robots during the day and 20 during the night. Home care (including travel time) by an operator costs €40 per hour and permanent care costs are €30 per hour. When using a robot an additional two hours of home care per day is needed. If you have a permanent care provider at home, an additional one hour of home care is needed. Nursing home costs are €192 per person per day, corresponding to one care provider for approximately five clients. The costs per year for the three alternatives are shown in Table 1.
Conclusion The economical impact of service robots can be divided into three fields: • Opportunities for new companies.
‘It will take less than ten years for the service robot to be introduced into care.’
International Federation of Robots definition of service robots.
Service robots currently have no strict internationally accepted definition, which, among other things, delimits them from other types of equipment, in particular the manipulating industrial robot. IFR, however, has adopted a preliminary definition:
‘A service robot is a robot which operates semi- or fully autonomously to perform services useful to the well-being of humans and equipment, excluding manufacturing operations.’
With this definition, manipulating industrial robots could also be regarded as service robots, provided they are installed in non-manufacturing operations. Service robots may, or may not, be equipped with an arm structure as is the industrial robot. Often, but not always, the service robots are mobile. In some cases, service robots consist of a mobile platform on which one or several arms are attached and controlled in the same mode as the arms of the industrial robot.
Because of their multitude of forms and structures as well as application areas, service robots are not easy to define. Since 2007 a working group of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has been revising the ISO 8373 which relates to manipulating industrial robots. This revision will include an official definition of service robots.
• Expansion into alternative fields of application.
• Expansion to other countries.
New companies could be set up to build components for robots and for the assembly and maintenance of robots. Opportunities also arise for IT-companies to create software for new autonomous tasks and for training and consultancy. The social impact of service robots is also
interesting. It will lead to more hours and time for personal care. However, there may be groups who are initially not comfortable working with robots but these will, in the course, disappear. The new, digitally native, generation will probably have no problem with this development at all.
Reference 1
www.willowgarage.com
Table 1: Comparison – home care with robot, permanent care, and nursing home. Home care with robot (2015)
Robot Remote care provider Physical care Total IFHE DIGEST 2013 €26,000
12 x 365 x 40/10 = €17,500 12 x 365 x 40/20 = €8,750 2 x 365 x 40 = €29,200
€81,500
Home care with robot (2021) Permanent home care €11,600 €17,500 €8,750
€29,200 €67,100
24 x 365 x 30 = €262,800 1 x 365 x 40 = €14,600 €277,400
Nursing home
365 x 192 = €70,000 €70,000 41
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