Smartphones Are Now Control Hubs for Personal Service Robots
智能手機現在是個人服務機器人的控制中心
The next decade will see huge strides in artificial intelligence and connectivity, supported by the internet of things. All this creates the technological foundation for the growing smart home market, especially in the domestic robot segment. In its global forecast, MarketAndMarkets predicts that the global value of domestic robot market will hit $9.1 billion by 2024 with a CAGR of 22.4%.
未來十年，在物聯網的支持下，人工智能和互聯互通將取得巨大進展。所有這些都爲智能家居市場的成長奠定了技術基礎，尤其是在國內機器人領域。MarketAndMarkets在其全球預測中預測，到2024年，國內機器人市場的全球價值將達到91億美元，複合年增長率爲22.4%。
This is where mobile gadgets come into their own: they will be the devices used to issue commands to these various robots and other smart home appliances through one or more mobile applications. AI enhancements are making it possible to manage these semi-autonomous devices as robotic vacuum cleaners and lawn mowers remotely via a smartphone or a smartwatch, the latter being a big part of iOS app development services right now. Yet, in order to ensure these interactions are as painless as possible, much work needs to be undertaken to streamline and optimize conversations with all these disparate helpers.
這就是移動設備產生的地方：它們將是通過一個或多個移動應用程序向這些各種機器人和其他智能家電發出命令的設備。人工智能的增強使得通過智能手機或智能手錶遠程管理這些半自動設備成爲可能，比如機器人吸塵器和割草機，智能手錶現在是iOS應用程序開發服務的重要組成部分。然而，爲了確保這些交互儘可能無痛，需要做很多工作來簡化和優化與所有這些不同助手的對話。
There are physical solutions that can coordinate devices, known as smart home hubs. One example of that would be Samsung's SmartThings, priced at about $65 and rated as a best-seller in the home automation hubs category. However, being hardware-based, these devices have a rather limited connectivity range for a truly remote interaction, allowing only voice commands in the proximity or direct tapping on the user interface.
有一些物理解決方案可以協調設備，稱爲智能家居集線器。其中一個例子就是三星的SmartThings，售價約爲65美元，被評爲家庭自動化中心類別的暢銷書。然而，以硬件爲基礎，這些設備對於真正的遠程交互具有相當有限的連接範圍，只允許在用戶界面上接近或直接竊聽語音命令。
Software-based smart home management hubs are a different thing. Installed on your smartphone or wearable, they go wherever you go and provide an unprecedented level of convenience and security. This didn’t escape big tech players’ attention; that’s why each of the renowned smart home controller vendors like Amazon, Google, or Logitech offer free mobile apps compatible with a range of smart home appliances, including domestic robots.
Let’s take a look at the robotic household of 2019 to see where the smartphone as a go-to communication medium will become even more irreplaceable.
基於軟件的智能家居管理中心是另一回事。安裝在智能手機或可穿戴設備上，無論您走到哪裏，它們都能提供前所未有的便利和安全性。這並沒有逃過大型科技公司的注意；這就是爲什麼亞馬遜、谷歌或羅技（Logitech）等知名智能家居控制器供應商都提供與包括家用機器人在內的一系列智能家電兼容的免費移動應用程序的原因
讓我們來看看2019年的機器人家庭，看看智能手機作爲一種走向通信媒介將變得更加不可替代。
The Assisted Household: Where Robots Belong
While domestic robots were only imaginable as a sci-fi fixture a few decades ago, now they are omnipresent. In its latest report, the International Federation of Robotics stated that nearly 8.5 million units of personal service robots were shipped in 2017 alone. This figure includes domestic, entertainment and leisure robots, typically categorized according to their functions:
受助家庭：機器人的歸屬
幾十年前，家用機器人還只是科幻小說裏的固定裝置，但現在它們無處不在。國際機器人聯合會在其最新報告中稱，僅2017年就有近850萬臺個人服務機器人發貨。這一數字包括家用、娛樂和休閒機器人，通常按其功能分類：
- Task-oriented robots for domestic chores and surveillance
- 面向任務的家務和監視機器人
- Healthcare robots for personal fitness and management of chronic and life-threatening illnesses
- 用於個人健身和慢性病和危及生命的疾病管理的醫療機器人
- Educational robots that both assist with and engage in education
- 既協助又參與教育的教育機器人
- Entertainment assistants that range from drone control to smart movie catalog browsers
- 從無人機控制到智能電影目錄瀏覽器的娛樂助理
Now, let’s take a closer look at each of these categories.
現在，讓我們仔細看看這些類別中的每一個。
Getting the Job Done: Task-oriented Robots
完成任務：面向任務的機器人
These are robots and devices we are already familiar with. While we have grown up with washing machines and dishwashers, these can now be pre-programmed and instructed to start, pause, or end a task.
這些是我們已經熟悉的機器人和設備。當我們在洗衣機和洗碗機中長大時，這些設備現在可以預先編程並指示開始、暫停或結束任務。
As far as actual robots go, Roomba immediately springs to mind. The little vacuum cleaner has been around for some time now in many households, together with its outdoor cousin, the automatic lawn mower. Here comes the smartphone: the iRobot HOME app was specifically designed for remote management of Roomba vacuum cleaners, including scheduling, smart space mapping, and more.
就實際的機器人而言，Roomba立刻浮現在腦海中。這個小吸塵器已經在許多家庭中使用了一段時間，它和它的室外同類自動割草機一起使用。智能手機來了：iRobot家庭應用程序是專門爲Roomba吸塵器的遠程管理而設計的，包括日程安排、智能空間地圖等。
This category also includes security devices, such as CCTV and intrusion detection systems, that can transmit a signal to the owner's mobile device. Another example of a mobile-led task-oriented robot, a baby monitor can be tracked from the next room and anywhere in the world alike.
這一類還包括安全設備，如閉路電視和入侵檢測系統，它們可以向用戶的移動設備發送信號。另一個移動式led任務導向機器人的例子是，可以從隔壁房間和世界任何地方跟蹤嬰兒監視器。
Staying Fit and Healthy
保持健康
With the introduction of wearables and fitness apps, this category is already well-embedded into millions of peoples’ daily routine. A virtual personal trainer can now be easily "hired" by anyone interested in keeping fit. Personal health management by checking heart rate and temperature via a wearable is also easily accessible.
隨着可穿戴設備和健身應用的推出，這一類別已經深入到數百萬人的日常生活中。現在，任何對保持健康感興趣的人都可以輕鬆地“僱傭”虛擬私人教練。通過可穿戴設備檢查心率和體溫的個人健康管理也很容易獲得。
Further developments in managing one's personal health will evolve as the use of big data and artificial intelligence in healthcare matures. Just earlier this year, Samsung unveiled its latest Bot Care device at CES in Las Vegas. The little robot can perform a range of health-tracking activities, making the user’s vitals and other data accessible to family members and medical professionals as needed. While it’s still in the demo phase, we can soon expect more robots like Bot Care on the personal health tech market.
隨着大數據和人工智能在醫療保健領域的應用日趨成熟，個人健康管理的進一步發展將不斷髮展。就在今年早些時候，三星在拉斯維加斯的消費電子展上發佈了最新的機器人關懷設備。這個小機器人可以執行一系列的健康跟蹤活動，讓家庭成員和醫療專業人員可以根據需要訪問用戶的生命體徵和其他數據。雖然它還處於演示階段，但我們很快就可以預期，在個人健康技術市場上會出現更多像機器人護理這樣的機器人。
Tireless and intelligent, healthcare robots can help us keep tabs on our health condition as well as the environment metrics like air quality and humidity. Combined, this can enable earlier detection of life-threatening illnesses and better, more hands-on management of chronic disorders.
不知疲倦和智能化的醫療機器人可以幫助我們密切關注我們的健康狀況以及環境指標，如空氣質量和溼度。綜合起來，這可以使早期發現危及生命的疾病，更好地、更實際地處理慢性疾病。
Learning with Robotic Assistants
使用機器人助手學習
Education has seen a massive disruption via online offerings and the rise of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). Lifelong learning is a necessity, not a luxury, and robots will assist in a variety of ways here, both inside and outside the classroom.
通過在線課程和MOOCs（大規模開放在線課程）的興起，教育出現了巨大的混亂。終身學習是必要的，而不是奢侈的，機器人將在教室內外以各種方式提供幫助。
There are more than a few projects underway to build AI-powered robot teachers, which are meeting a particularly high demand when it comes to teaching foreign language to children. Robin and Elias are just two examples of friendly humanoid robots helping toddlers and older kids learn English. While they are architecturally autonomous, learning assistants like Tega, a social robot, are smartphone-based and interacted with using a visual user interface.
目前，有多個項目正在進行中，以建立人工智能驅動的機器人教師，這是滿足一個特別高的要求時，教學外語的孩子。羅賓和埃利亞斯只是兩個友好的仿人機器人幫助幼兒和大一點的孩子學習英語的例子。雖然它們在架構上是自主的，但像Tega這樣的學習助手是基於智能手機的，使用可視化用戶界面進行交互。
Having Fun and Managing Lifestyle
享受樂趣和管理生活方式
Whether it is controlling a drone, playing social games, or merely organizing one's movie collection, robots and apps are supporting the state of play.
無論是控制無人機、玩社交遊戲，還是僅僅組織自己的電影收藏，機器人和應用程序都在支持遊戲狀態。
Robots in this space will become the social robots of the next decade, once AI has matured to the point where these aids become more like a human analog. Amazon's Alexa, a virtual personal assistant, is a case in point. Where people are using Alexa to surf the internet or ask for a weather report, there is a new and interesting social relationship between the owner and the device. Alexa is normally housed in Amazon's Echo device, but any other device that is Alexa-enabled can be used, including the smartphone.
一旦人工智能成熟到更像人類模擬物的程度，這個領域的機器人將成爲未來十年的社交機器人。亞馬遜的虛擬私人助理Alexa就是一個很好的例子。在人們使用Alexa上網或要求氣象報告的地方，用戶和設備之間有一種新的有趣的社交關係。Alexa通常安裝在亞馬遜的Echo設備中，但任何啓用Alexa的設備都可以使用，包括智能手機。
Our Robotic Future
我們的機器人未來
Whether you are a technophile or a luddite, one thing is clear: much of the routine work in a household can be carried out by a robotic device even now. Those rosy predictions of what smart home will look like are being fulfilled as you read this. Chances are, you will be using your smartphone to orchestrate all this domestic activity, in coordination with a device like Echo, where you can ask Alexa to order you a pizza to be there when you get home.
無論你是一個技術愛好者還是一個路德派，有一件事是很清楚的：即使是現在，家庭中的許多日常工作都可以通過機器人裝置來完成。當你讀到這篇文章的時候，那些關於智能家居將會是什麼樣子的樂觀預測正在被實現。很有可能，你會用你的智能手機來協調所有這些家庭活動，配合像Echo這樣的設備，你可以讓Alexa在你回家的時候給你點一個比薩餅
Facets of your life, like managing your health, can be ‘outsourced’ to a wearable on your wrist that can "talk" to your phone. Our smartphones are becoming much more than devices for communicating via voice and texts. They are becoming our passports to a less cluttered life, where you have delegated much of the mundane to this small and vital object.
你生活的方方面面，比如管理你的健康，可以“外包”到手腕上的一個可穿戴設備上，它可以和你的手機“通話”。我們的智能手機已經不僅僅是通過語音和文本進行通信的設備。他們正在成爲我們的護照，以減少混亂的生活，在那裏，你已經委託了這個小而重要的對象世俗的大部分。