[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #771: From Roombas to Rover, robots are becoming even more mainstream

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OPLIN 4Cast #771: From Roombas to Rover, robots are becoming even more
mainstream
October 6th, 2021

[image: old fashioned robot] A couple of months ago, I broke down and
bought a Roomba. With two oft-shedding, long-hair cats, we were simply
losing the battle against keeping our home free of loose fur. It's (mostly)
worked pretty well, but I admit to initially being just a little freaked
out by the thing talking to me and by how independent it seemed. Roombas
might be the first instance of widely-adopted robots for the home, but they
certainly won't be the last. I, for one, am not sure I'm ready to totally
welcome our robot overlords.

   -
   - Amazon's new Astro robot is here, and it's pure meme fuel
   <https://www.androidpolice.com/2021/09/29/amazons-new-astro-robot-is-here-and-its-pure-meme-fuel/>
   [Android Police] "Astro has also already been the subject of media
   attention, but for all the wrong reasons. Particularly, people have taken
   to Twitter to mock the robot's appearance and concept. Others are worried
   that the robot might be a slippery slope for Amazon to know more about you
   than it should, with leaked documents obtained by *Vice* showing how
   Astro tracks pretty much everything you do at home while not being
   particularly good at a lot of basic tasks, like circumnavigating obstacles
   and preventing falls down the stairs. Big yikes."
   - Robots: stealing our jobs or solving labour shortages?
   <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/02/robots-stealing-jobs-labour-shortages-artificial-intelligence-covid>
   [The Guardian] "All of this has created a powerful incentive for businesses
   to invest in automation as a way to adapt to the worker shortage. As
   British farms confront the absence of seasonal workers who once flooded in
   from eastern Europe, interest in agricultural robots is growing. The
   UK-based startup Small Robot Company, for example, has developed two robots
   capable of killing weeds in wheat fields while cutting down dramatically on
   the use of chemical pesticides. "
   - Miniature Customizable Robot Dogs
   <https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/mini-pupper> [Trend Hunter] "The
   'Mini Pupper' robotic dog kit is a miniature take on larger, more expensive
   alternatives on the market that is focused on providing makers and students
   alike with a way to incorporate the technology into their collection."
   - Insurers Increase Investments in Drones, Robots
   <https://www.wsj.com/articles/insurers-increase-investments-in-drones-robots-11633121824>
   [Wall Street Journal] "The company’s latest investment is Spot, a 70-pound,
   four-legged robot from Boston Dynamics Inc. that can be used to access
   unoccupied, structurally compromised houses and buildings to assess damage.
   Farmers will be the first insurance carrier to deploy the mobile robot."

*From the Ohio Web Library <http://ohioweblibrary.org>:*

   - Softening Up Robots: Giving robots soft, artificial skin would enable
   them to work more closely with people
   <https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.oplin.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=147082999&site=ehost-live>(Shein,
   E. (2020). Softening Up Robots: Giving robots soft, artificial skin would
   enable them to work more closely with people. *Communications of the ACM*,
   *63*(12), 12–14.)
   - Popularity of Personal Robots Set To Surge in Asia-Pacific in Near
   Future
   <https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.oplin.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=16PU3930270936&site=ehost-live>
   (Popularity of Personal Robots Set To Surge in Asia-Pacific in Near Future.
   (2021). *M2PressWIRE*.)
   - Humanoid robots in higher education: Evaluating the acceptance of
   Pepper in the context of an academic writing course using the UTAUT
   <https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.oplin.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tfh&AN=145364199&site=ehost-live>(Guggemos,
   J., Seufert, S., & Sonderegger, S. (2020). Humanoid robots in higher
   education: Evaluating the acceptance of Pepper in the context of an
   academic writing course using the UTAUT. *British Journal of Educational
   Technology*, *51*(5), 1864–1883.)

------------------------------
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