A report by Bank of America suggests that humanoid robots are set to become an increasingly important part of our lives. With growing needs in both personal assistance and services, the bank predicts that there could be as many as three billion humanoid robots in service worldwide by 2060.
According to this research, the market for humanoid robots is booming, and this is just the beginning. Bank of America analysts predict that annual sales of this type of robot will reach one million units by 2030, with a projected three billion robots in service by 2060, the majority of them in the home.
With advances in machine learning, humanoid robots will soon be capable of achieving greater interconnection with humans. Bank of America anticipates that, by 2060, 65% of humanoid robots will be used in domestic environments, 32% in the service sector and just 3% in industry. This breakdown shows a shift in use towards personal assistance and the automation of everyday tasks, rather than industry, where these robots are mainly being tested today.
Recently, a Chinese manufacturer successfully tested the deployment of several dozen of its humanoid robots in an electric car factory – a world first. Industry is set to benefit from advances in robotics, but not necessarily in the form of androids.
Several factors are expected to contribute to this meteoric growth, starting with a significant drop in production costs for this type of device. In fact, as the number of robots produced increases, their price will fall. Bank of America forecasts an average unit's costs will be around US$17,000 by 2030, compared to well over twice that today. What's more, the aging of the population and the shortage of labor in certain countries (Japan, for example) will create a real demand for assistance for the elderly, and for automation in numerous sectors under strain.
Such figures inevitably raise questions about whether jobs are at risk, but also about the ethical and social integration of these robots, whether at home or in a more professional environment. – AFP Relaxnews
