A New York startup has reportedly designed an AI robot to clean public restrooms and is trained via Virtual Reality or VR.
This was developed by Somatic a start-up in New York
SOMATIC is a robotic cleaning service for commercial buildings. This robot made its debut on stage at TC Sessions: Robotics + AI at UC Berkeley. For its appearance, CEO Michael Levy has compared the robot to a minifridge with a robotic arm attached to it. He was inspired to develop this cleaning robot after he spent years working at his grandfather's restaurant.
"When I grew up, I did a bunch of jobs. If you want to get to the register, you have to start in the bathroom, the reason bathrooms are such a good application because everything is bolted down to the floor. Things move in a predictable way. All commercial bathrooms built after 1994 are ADA compliant. What's good for robotics is that it lays a specific design." Levy explained.
The robot learns by being trained using Virtual Reality
Levy and his team have been getting the robot to learn by training it using VR simulation of the restroom to show the AI where and when to spray, wipe, vacuum, and blow-dry. The robot has sensors built-in tp move around the place. First, it will clean the bathroom, then recharge and refill the chemicals it needs.
The robot can get around eight hours of cleaning in a day and can also open doors and take a ride on the elevator. The primary target of Somatic is airports, casinos, offices, and other places with big commercial restrooms. After its trial phase, the robot will be leased for around $1,000 a month.
Somatic has already had a bunch of customers under its name and has been continuing to attract more. This kind of robotic design can help a lot of people when it comes to cleaning and can make life easier for everybody, not to mention being cost-effective compared to humans. A human employee can cost anywhere between $4,000 and $10,000 a month, while the Somatic robot is only for $1,000 per month
It is widely known that robots or Artificial Intelligence makes a huge impact on our daily lives. Whether its an octopus-inspired robot arm, bionic jellyfish or a Dungeons and Dragons AI Dungeon Master, each have their own purpose, and with the help and progression of AIs and robots nowadays, research by scientists has been growing and can help them to furthermore understand and study the environment around them which is definitely a win on our part as humans. It is unsure if Somatic will ever develop and create a different kind of robotic mechanism, but all eyes are on them since their first-ever robotic debut has been a success.
