Personal computers have transformed our lives in ways science fiction writers could not have imagined. Helper robots have the potential to do the same, if we work together.
At Everyday Robots, we often talk about solving life’s smallest problems. The endless and very ordinary tasks that take up a large portion of our lives.
But small can sound unremarkable until you put it into context. While digital innovation has transformed many of the things we do today, these innovations have had comparatively little impact on how we live our physical lives.
Helper robots that work alongside us don’t just have the ability to make our lives easier — the multiplicative effect, the billions of hours saved, might just prove as revolutionary as the automobile or the personal computer.
Hans Peter Brøndmo
Chief Robot Officer, Everyday Robots
One revolution intersects with another. For the first time in our history, older people are set to outnumber younger ones. That’s because we are living longer, healthier lives while having fewer children.
Despite this being a net good for humanity and our planet — a rapidly aging population is not without its challenges.
Source: Brookings Institute
There will be fewer people to build, grow and serve the things that make up our everyday lives. At the same time, there will be even more people who need support as they age. People we know, people we love, people like us.
We believe that helper robots are a radical solution to this problem. Answering not only how we maintain and improve our quality of life in the face of fewer people in the workforce. But also, what it means to live for longer in the bodies we were born with. With limitations that, in today’s world, might limit our independence.
We do not go into the future naively. Helper robots will impact how we work. Some jobs will be lost and some will be fundamentally altered. At the same time, new jobs will be created that don’t exist today. Outside the office, helper robots will also shift how we spend our free time, holding the potential to change the way we live, in ways we cannot yet imagine.
Getting there won’t be easy. We know that robots have a long way to go before they will add value to people’s lives. We are at the beginning of the journey to discovering what they can do. As well as what it will take to bring our vision into reality.
Like personal computers — there is no one person, group or company that can imagine all of the things that helper robots can do. We need many minds to conceptualize how they might learn to help us, complement our abilities and enable us to do the things we could have never believed possible. Realizing their potential, and the human creativity they have the power to ignite, will be a worldwide effort.
We think getting helper robots out into the world is an important first step that will help us gain the insight we need to innovate forward, and inspire others to join us in our mission toward a better everyday.