Robots are changing not just the way we work but parenting as well; here's a glance at what the future holds

George Lucas created R2D2 as a robot character in his 'Star Wars' franchise way back in 1977. In the film and its sequels this smart astro-droid supported the main characters in a human-like manner through their many adventures. What was just a figment of someone's imagination a few years ago, has now becoming a reality with the emergence of social robots.

About a year ago, Hilton announced a partnership with IBM to pilot a robot concierge called "Connie" named after Hilton founder Conrad Hilton. The robot works alongside Hilton team members to assist guests and personalize their travel experience. Connie leverages IBM's Watson cognitive capabilities to interact with guests and responds to their queries in a human-friendly manner by tapping into Way Blazers extensive travel domain knowledge. The more Connie interacts with guests the more it learns, responding with improved recommendations.




Back home, India's oldest private bank established in 1904, City Union Bank has taken the lead by being the first to introduce a humanoid robot for banks. This two foot high AI-powered robot is driving the bank into a self-service era by answering customer queries. Fondly called " Lakhsmi' it can gesture and engage in conversations on around 125 subjects using chat bot technology. Like Connie it also learns through interactions. Queries that it is not able to answer are directed to subject matter experts whose responses are captured in a knowledge bank for future reference.

Technologies dealing with human behavior and interactions are now also finding their way into homes through inexpensive home assistance devices. These take the form of voice-activated hands-free devices like Google Home or Amazon's Echo available for USD 130 and USD 180 respectively. They play music, provide information, answer questions, read the news, check the weather and manage other home functions with voice activated commands.

My colleagues in the US introduced me to Echo Dot priced at USD 50 which I promptly picked up as a gift for my daughter. It comes with the speaker, a power adapter, a USB charging cable and instructions to download the Amazon Alexa app to configure the device. To ask questions you call out Alexa's name and it responds, pretty much like speaking to a small child. From streaming music to setting an alarm, or scheduling work, managing smart home devices and even making purchases, it pretty much answers every question, making it truly feel like a personal assistant.



Social Robots go a step beyond voice assisted devices. They incorporate emotion. This is achieved by going beyond the speech interface to include non-verbal cues like motion or physical gestures which enhance human engagement. Cynthia Breazeal, professor at MIT and Director of Personal Robot Group at MIT Media Lab, crowd funded the development of Jibo, touted as the world's first commercial social robot. It uses machine learning, speech, facial recognition, combined with basic movements to provide a friendly emotional expression. The company hired the sound designer behind R2D2 to create audio phonic libraries which give Jibo childlike expressions. Priced at USD 750 it helps a family stay connected at home. It recognizes faces and voices and can deliver messages to family members as they come and go, take photographs and even order their take away.

Not to be left behind India's growing tech start-up eco system which now is the third largest in the world, with many players engaged in emerging and cutting-edge technologies. 3 IIT Mumbai graduates founded Emotix to address the social needs of Indian parents and children. With a team of engineers, mathematicians, artists, neuro-psychologists they created Miko - a companion robot for children. It's India's first companion robot capable of engaging, educating and entertaining children above 5 years. Miko helps them learn, play and develop skills. With access to a wide pool of knowledge it can even recite bed-time stories or help a child with their studies. Equipped with a moral center powered by ancient Indian values, it also has a parental dashboard to customize and manage activities of the child. Priced at Rs 19,000, Miko provides parents with a viable alternative to smart phone addiction.



Social behaviour is complex and despite availability of technology to interact with humans, the look of the robot needs to be carefully designed for human acceptance. A human-like form is important to gain trust and build an emotional connect. At the same time making its appearance too human raises the expectation for the robot to behave completely like human beings which may result in a disappointing experience. Most robots therefore have a minimalistic appearance and avoid complete human features.

Jibo, Miko and many more like Buddy from Blue Frog in France, iPal from Avtarmind in USA, Zenbo from Asus in Taiwan, Sota from Vstone in Japan, are an emerging breed of innovators looking for the elusive killer app which can create a mass market for their cognitive social technologies. These machines represent a new era where computers understand the world the way humans do. They exhibit emotion, have capabilities to converse, make use of natural communication cues and have a personality.

Take for example computerized mixologists which are beginning to find their way to clubs, fine hotels, bars and homes to make perfect cocktails. The Royale Caribbean, on its cruise ships, has installed robotic bartenders who not only create endless cocktail mixes but serve them with grace and harmony. To do so its manufacturer Makr Shakr collaborated with a famous dancer from the New York Theater Ballet to map his movements and programed the robots to simulate human like graceful moves giving it a personality to deliver a superior experience in their famous Bionic Bar. It is not difficult to imagine such robots proliferating and possibility even striking a conversation with their guests in the near future.

Robot companions are expected to complement not replace people. However sharing our world with them will greatly influence how we interact with each other. As we shape machines based on human patterns, the distinction between physical, digital and biological will get blurred, resulting in breakthroughs at an exponential pace, which many refer to as the fourth industrial revolution.