6 Types of Service Robots

Robots are becoming increasingly prevalent in our everyday lives. These days, service robots can be found almost everywhere: factories, hospitals, warehouses, homes, and even on the streets, performing various tasks, all the way from mundane to complex operations. Some service robots are designed to move and be used by themselves, while others are made to work with humans as part of a team. 

Service robots have a huge potential for revolutionizing not only the way businesses operate but also to improve our daily lives. Learn all about them here.

What are Professional Service Robots?

Professional service robots are a type of robot used in a professional setting outside of the traditional factory floor. They can be both for personal and private use as well. Unlike industrial robots, service robotics is primarily designed to support people in their daily life. 

They can be semi-autonomous or they can also be fully autonomous in performing tasks. Service robots are used in strenuous, menial, or repetitive tasks where automation technology outperforms manual labor done by humans.

What are the 6 Major Types of Industry Robots?

Service robots can be used in many different ways: they are highly flexible, minimize the load and work pressure, are highly reliable, and have made life easier for human beings by providing assistance for various activities. Here are some of the major types of robotics that render services in the industry: 

Delivery and Logistics Robots

Automation in the logistics business is a fast-growing market. In fact, logistics is one of the most dominant application areas of robotics. A lot of them use mobile robots, autonomous vehicles, and drones to automate movement-based tasks. Robot carts/vehicles, on-road trucks, and delivery vehicles that employ a service robot for last-mile delivery also belong in this field. 

Cleaning and Disinfection Robots

Service robots used in cleaning and disinfecting can be classified as professional or for personal and private use. For example, if you have a robot vacuum to help sweep up your floors at home, you’re employing the services of a cleaning robot for personal and private use. On the other hand, an example of a cleaning robot for professional use is a robot that disinfects hospitals by brushing the floors, spraying disinfectant, or using UV lights.

Social Robots

Social robots are essentially high-level artificial intelligence (AI) systems built into physical entities. Social robots are typically used in the hospitality industry and medical treatments. Service robots used for social purposes generally act as guides or provide information. They are also used to treat individuals who suffer from cognitive impairment.

Agricultural Robotics

There’s a rise in developing technologies to improve agricultural environments. In the agricultural industry, robotics generally work in rural farmlands with limited access to infrastructure, difficult terrains, and unpredictable weather. These various environmental factors bring several technical challenges to agricultural service robots.

Restaurant and Kitchen Robots

The impact of COVID has given restaurant robots and kitchen robots a boost of attention. Restaurant owners use these technologies to better manage food preparation. Some examples of tasks that restaurant robots can do in the kitchen include maintaining stable food quality, reducing food waste, taking less space, and the like. Robots are seen to have massive potential in the food service industry and a lot of companies see a number of market opportunities in it.

Underwater Robots

Unmanned underwater vehicles are primarily developed for use in military applications. Examples include submarines and countermining robots. These technologies focus on research, exploration, inspection, and the like. It’s worth noting that robots used in an underwater environment come with limited visibility, possible animal attack, and limited approaches to communication. Due to those factors, these robotics need the assistance of other equipment such as sonar, sensors, cameras, and more.

The same sensors can also monitor the temperatures of a robotic vacuum’s motors and brush gears. Again, when a robotic vacuum is too hot, you can also check if any items or debris are caught in the wheels or brushes as these can be the cause of the spike in heat.

What are Examples of Five Applications of Service Robots?

The development of robotic systems has allowed them to be used in different applications. No longer are robotic technologies confined to the traditional factory floor environment. Different types of service robotics, whether it’s for personal use or professional use, lend a big helping hand thanks to their efficiency.

Domestic Services

A service robot that performs household activities such as dishwashing, sweeping, lawn-mowing, and more is used in domestic applications. The market for domestic robots also includes entertainment and leisure robots. For instance, a toy robot is a kind of personal service bot that is usually operated at home. 

Retail

Companies that employ robots in the retail market use them to interact with customers and provide assistance. It can be as simple as letting a customer know which item is in stock or not, or it can be something like helping someone navigate their way around the store. 

Logistics

A lot of logistics companies use robot systems to perform repetitive, strenuous activities. This can be things such as sorting packages or helping goods throughout their journey from origin to destination. They also increase safety in the workplace as they can be used to carry heavy objects and materials, reducing the load and pressure on human workers.

Agricultural

Farmers benefit a lot from robots as they greatly help when it comes to improving crop yields and monitoring environmental footprints. Agricultural robots also help ease the widespread labor shortage. Furthermore, these robots are also used for spraying weed control, automatic harvesting, planting and seeding, and even milking.

Medical

There’s still a lot of research and development to do when it comes to using robotic equipment in the medical field but the market is steadily rising. For instance, surgical robots are remotely manually operated and while they lack autonomy, they are still qualified as service robots under a medical application due to their use at hospitals where nothing else could work better without involving a lot of risk.

Final Note

The future of service robots is looking bright. The assistance that these robots offer is a big help in improving everyday life. As technology develops further, professional service robots are most likely to become a much more common occurrence in the world.