Will Robot Butlers Soon Be Running Our Homes?

In retrospect, the smartphone seems like such an obvious piece of technology.

Take a cellular phone, a camera, an MP3 player, a GPS and some other chips and sensors, mash them together, and voila: You have one of the most useful devices of this generation, or perhaps ever.

In a few years, we may think of robot butlers the same way we think of our smartphones.

The various pieces are already here, after all. Home security cameras from the likes of Nest and Netgear, robot vacuum cleaners such as the Roomba and Dyson 360 Eye, and various voice-activated artificial intelligence helpers effectively add up to the butler's requisite eyes, ears, feet, mouth and brain.

Put them all together and Rosie the Robot, from the classic Jetsons cartoon, or even C-3P0, could be just around the corner.

At least a few companies believe that to be the case. Some have even been getting close to making it a reality, although based on recent news, there still may be a ways to go.

Mayfield Robotics, based in Redwood City, Calif., was targeting an autumn launch of Kuri, a two-foot-tall robot that resembles Eve, the ovoid-shaped character from the movie WALL-E, before hitting pause on its plans in late July.

Kuri's eyes were designed to track and follow whoever is speaking, and the robot emits a cute chirp when its head is petted. It also houses a Bluetooth speaker to play music and acts as a security monitor that can roam about a home shooting short video snippets. Kuri's AI decides which video clips are interesting and delivers them to its owner's smartphone.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, Mayfield Robotics' representatives said AI assistants, which can answer queries and automate smart home functions, will soon work their way into such robots.

The company now says it is evaluating its path forward, but added "we stand firm in our belief that the home robot Renaissance is just beginning, and it's going to be amazing."

Paris-based Blue Frog Robotics was also at CES, a massive annual trade show where innovations are unveiled. Blue Frog was drawing attention to its robot butler, Buddy, which is similarly two feet tall and voice controlled. Buddy can suggest food recipes, take phone calls and play music. The robot, which looks like a cross between R2D2 and WALL-E, can also move around the home autonomously and act as an independent security monitor.

Blue Frog is also planning to incorporate virtual-assistant functionality.

"It's the next step," said Jean-Michel Mourier, chief technology officer of Blue Frog Robotics, at CES. "Do you want your [AI] assistant on a table or roaming around your house?"

Developers are aiming to get a piece of the burgeoning social robot market, which is expected to grow from US$288 million (U.S.) in 2017 to US$699 million by 2023, according to a report from analysis firm Research and Markets.

Cost will always be a factor, of course. Prices for the proposed 'bots from Blue Frog and Mayfield's now-shelved Kuri landed in the US$700-US$900-ish range, although both companies projected costs would come down as various component technologies become cheaper.

Bigger players are also poking around the space, some of which already produce several of the component pieces used in domestic robots.

While the idea of robot butlers may largely remain science-fiction for now, if they prove to work well and actually deliver the conveniences being promised, we may soon wonder how we got along without them — just like smartphones.