GENEVA -- The use of robots around the home to mow lawns, vacuum floors and manage other chores will increase sevenfold by 2007 as more consumers snap up smart machines, the United Nations said.
That boom coincides with record orders for industrial robots, said the U.N.'s annual World Robotics Survey, released Wednesday.
The report, issued by the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe and the International Federation of Robotics, said that 607,000 automated domestic helpers were in use at the end of 2003, two-thirds of them purchased that year.
Most of them — 570,000 — were robot lawnmowers. Sales of vacuum cleaning robots reached 37,000.
Read the rest of this article (Wired News)
That boom coincides with record orders for industrial robots, said the U.N.'s annual World Robotics Survey, released Wednesday.
The report, issued by the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe and the International Federation of Robotics, said that 607,000 automated domestic helpers were in use at the end of 2003, two-thirds of them purchased that year.
Most of them — 570,000 — were robot lawnmowers. Sales of vacuum cleaning robots reached 37,000.
Read the rest of this article (Wired News)