Consumer Robotics in the Age of Acceleration
The lines between consumer electronics and consumer robotics grow blurry each year. For example, over 400 robotics companies exhibited at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Devices like drones, virtual reality headsets, 3D printers, driverless cars, and bionics – are essentially robots and/or were developed upon foundational knowledge in robotics. Projections like those by the Japanese Robotics Association see an annual $30B+ market for household robots by 2025 – and surpassing industrial robot sales. Beyond the Roomba, consumer robots like DJI quadcopters, Jibo and Pepper personal robots, and Tesla driverless cars and related technologies like Oculus Rift headsets demonstrate this growing area. Observations suggest that the product adoption rate for a consumer robot hovers around 7-years.