Digital friends of the future
Man’s best friend has competition. The companion robot industry is expected to grow considerably over the next five years, paving the way for adorable AI to enter your home.
These friendly robots are designed to optimize the household while providing artificial companionship. To save resources, money and space, could these friendly androids exist only in your Smart Glasses?
READ: Could Smart Glasses make physical screens obsolete?
The difference would be surprisingly minimal, while reducing the financial burden faced by robotics companies and consumers.
Placing these characters in a virtual space offers an eco-friendly alternative. Smart Glasses technology is advancing quickly and could harness augmented reality (AR) to make the robot in your lenses look real.
Companion robots will help care for an ageing global population. Can they be virtual?
Credit: Yahoo Finance
Friendly robots: virtual vs physical
As people live longer and the caregiver supply dwindles, companion bots are a practical solution. Not only could you play games or dim the lights with these cute little buddies, they are designed to foster an emotional connection with users.
But do they have to exist in a physical space?
Why Smart Glasses could help companion robots go mainstream:
- Domestic perfection: Much like a smart speaker, users can ask bots to turn on the dishwasher, pause Netflix or turn off the lights. A robot only visible in your Smart Glasses could also be synced with the cloud and perform the same functions.
- Next gen bargain: Companion robots aren’t cheap. Virtual alternatives could save consumers thousands of dollars, not to mention hardware repairs. With AR bots, the only burden would come in the form of software updates. Have your futuristic cake and afford to eat it too!
- Childcare in the 2020s: Even though kids can’t touch virtual companion bots, monitoring wouldn’t be an issue. Even physical bots tasked with childcare mainly use dialogue to encourage good behavior. Of course, sensors could be used to trigger an alert system when trouble arises. The responsibility of helping your middle schooler with their homework could no longer be a parent’s.
- Always there, making you smile: It’s reasonable to assume that most future consumers will own a pair of Smart Glasses. After all, there could soon be no need for physical screens. Living their own lives in this augmented space, companion bots could be summoned instantly. They could even detect if a user’s feeling depressed and come to their emotional rescue.
One day, consumers could access all the benefits of companion bots through Smart Glasses.
Image credit: American Luxury
Life in augmented homes
Companion robots are just one possible fixture of households in the augmented reality era. Users will be able to customize entire virtual worlds, viewable only through Smart Glasses.
Teenagers could decorate their rooms with any poster of their choosing. TV screens could be permanently fixed on vacant walls like projectors - with a higher resolution. Seniors could place virtual record players in their living rooms and summon any album ever made. Existing in a 3D space, all of these items would remain in place - just like physical objects.
The global problem of social isolation was made worse by COVID-19. Companion robots could help fill this gap. By giving users a seamless portal to experience an augmented world, Smart Glasses could provide a cheaper, more sustainable option.
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