Okay, maybe not in the way you’re picturing. Your robot workmate probably won’t stand on two legs and ask how your day’s going in the break room. In fact, it won’t be a co-worker as much as a tool to help you do your own job. But unlike the standard items in your toolbox, this one will help you think of solutions instead of just implementing them.
The Many Applications for Robotics in the Workplace
You’ve probably read a few stories about robots employed by supermarkets to check inventory, and robotic trash cans that bring themselves to the curb on garbage day. These real-world applications make it easy to see how technological advancements are designed to make our lives easier.
But what about the technology behind the technology? What do you know about the programs and processes that power the end-products you’ve become familiar with?
A Clearer Vision for Automation
Robots in the manufacturing sector are nothing new — (insert info about automation). But as machine vision becomes more advanced, the applications and accuracy of robotics continue to grow.
DreamVu is at the forefront of Visual Intelligence Software. The company’s omnidirectional 3D vision systems are used in a number of industrial settings, as well as those closer to home. Remember those grocery store robots we mentioned earlier? DreamVu’s vision systems allow them to see where they’re going, and what’s stocked on store shelves.
A Softer Touch to Deliver Care
Now especially, isolation has created a world of people craving the comfort of touch. Video calls have replaced family dinners, and socially-distant greetings have replaced warm hugs between friends.
Robots might not seem like the obvious choice to fill the affection-gap, but HuggieBot aims to change that. This robot’s sole purpose is to deliver hugs. Drawing on research that shows the power of hugs in lowering cortisol levels and blood pressure while raising the levels of feel-good hormone oxytocin, HuggieBot’s inventor set out to see if a robot’s embrace had the same effect as that of another human. So far, the results are promising. The research was even featured in a New York Times article that delved into the social cues associated with hugs, and how the bot reacts to those cues.
In the healthcare setting, this could mean that at-risk patients can receive the benefits of physical touch without the risk of infection.
A Smarter Conversation Online
Have you ever asked a chatbot a question, only to have it tell you that it didn’t understand what you were asking? Simple chatbots can answer simple questions, but in the customer support space, not all problems are simple. For this reason, we develop smart chatbots that ask the right questions to get to the heart of a problem while collecting necessary information to resolve it.
With conversational AI solutions, companies are able to communicate more effectively with their customers while generating new leads and providing automated customer support. In turn, customers get faster, more accurate responses that lead to an overall better customer experience.
On customer care teams, having smart chatbots frees up time for agents, who can be looped in for complicated issues and brought up to speed quickly with the information pulled from the chatbot’s conversation.
Learning More About the Growing Role of Robotics
While we tend to think of robots as a singular invention, each one is the result of countless research disciplines and discoveries. Machine vision, touch sensors, and conversational AI are just a few examples of technologies being developed to advance the field in unimaginable ways.
If these topics interest you, we encourage you to vote for our panel, “Your Next Workmate Will Be a Robot” in SXSW’s PanelPicker for 2021. We want to share our technologies with the world, and are asking for your support to make it happen. We get it — you’re still feeling election fatigue — but this vote just requires a click. No questionable mail delays or sweating over signature matches. You got this!