Nov 25, 2021
Alphabet’s X lab experiment, the Everyday Robots Project, has moved some of its prototype machines out of the lab and into Google’s Bay Area campuses to carry out light tasks like tidying chairs and wiping tables.
So What?
The age of the all-purpose personal robot isn’t quite here, but it’s coming. In 2020 the global robotics market was worth about $50 billion, set to grow to $60 billion in 5 years. The technology promises to do for our relationship with the physical environment what the internet and smartphones did for our relationship with knowledge. We don’t suggest you start planning for robots to replace your workforce just yet, but it’s worth getting a handle on where we are now, and where the technology could be heading.