According to experts, robots are expected to play a much larger role in performing household tasks by the year 2033. Recent studies predict that robots will be doing 39% of the total household tasks, an increase from the current estimate of 26%.
The International Federation of Robotics (IFR), a global organization that promotes the use of robotics, published the report detailing the predictions. One of the key drivers of this growth is the continuing advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology. These developments have allowed robots to become more sophisticated and capable of performing a wide range of tasks.
65 experts in artificial intelligence (AI) were consulted by researchers from the UK and Japan to make predictions about how much common household work will be automated in the next ten years.
While care for the young or elderly was anticipated to be least likely to be affected by AI, experts indicated that grocery shopping was likely to witness the most automation. The researchers noted that robots "for domestic home duties," including robot vacuum cleaners, "have become the most extensively made and sold robots in the world."
For their predictions on robots in the home, the team consulted 29 AI specialists from the UK and 36 AI experts from Japan. In the United Kingdom, men specialists were more hopeful about home automation than their female counterparts, but in Japan, the position was flipped.
However the duties that experts believed could be automated varied: "Just 28% of care job, such as teaching your child, accompanying your child, or caring for an elderly family member, is anticipated to be automated," stated Dr. Lulu Shi, postdoctoral researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute.
On the other hand, experts predicted that technology will reduce grocery shopping time by 60%.
Nonetheless, forecasts that robots will free us from housework over the next ten years have a lengthy history, and skepticism may be warranted. In 1966, the television programme Tomorrow's World featured a domestic robot that could cook supper, walk the dog, watch the baby, do the shopping, mix cocktails, and perform numerous other jobs.
According to the research, domestic automation might free up a substantial amount of time spent on unpaid domestic labor. In the United Kingdom, men of working age perform roughly half as much unpaid work as women of working age, whereas in Japan men perform less than a fifth.
Ekaterina Hertog, an associate professor in AI and Society at Oxford University and one of the study's authors, sees parallels between the excitement that has long surrounded self-driving cars and the optimism surrounding AI
Prof. Hertog contends that the disproportionate weight of domestic labor on women has a negative impact on women's incomes, savings, and pensions. According to the experts, increasing automation could consequently result in more gender equality.
In conclusion, the growth of robots in the home is expected to continue at a rapid pace over the next decade. While there are concerns about the impact on the workforce and the potential for robots to become too autonomous, the benefits of this technology are significant.
