Independent Perspective News

GENEVA, Switzerland (Reuters) -- Technological improvements and falling prices could soon see robots doing many household chores, from cutting the grass to cleaning windows, according to a United Nations report on Thursday.

Not the mechanical man servants of science fiction, but computerized appliances such as vacuum cleaners and lawn mowers that can be programmed to work without a guiding hand.

According to the World 2002 Robotics Report, drawn up by the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), automated vacuum cleaners hit the market last year, but with a relatively high price tag of 1,400 euros (dollars). In 2001, world sales of all kinds of robotics for domestic use, excluding toys and games, were 21,500 units. But the figure is seen jumping to more than 700,000 during the 2002-2005 period, the report said.

"Prices are going to come down just as they did for personal computers (PCs). When PCs started to be used by private people, they were pretty expensive," said Jan Karlsson, an UNECE expert involved in drawing up the report.

In its annual survey of robotics, the Geneva-based group said that worldwide sales of robots for all uses fell sharply in 2001, mainly as a result of plummeting demand in Japan and a depressed market in the United States that reflected the overall economic situation.

But over the long term, industrial use of robots was certain to soar and could even help tackle the problem of a relative decline in the workforce due to aging populations, it said.

Disposing of bombs

Robots are used in the car, chemical and metallurgical industries as well as activities ranging from medical services to bomb disposal and underwater investigations.

At the end of 2001, industry worldwide used an estimated 760,000 robots, with some 360,000 in Japan, 220,000 in Europe and 100,000 in North America.

By 2005, this overall figure should rise to 965,000, due mainly to a predicted near 50 percent jump in Europe and a 30 percent increase in use in North America, the UNECE said.

Technological advances had improved the industrial performance of robots and this, together with rising labor, costs would continue to make them attractive, the report said.

"Falling or stable robot prices, increasing lab our costs and continuously improved technology are major driving forces which speak for continued massive investment," said Karlsson.

Even in developing countries, such as Brazil, Mexico and China, robotics were beginning to catch on, the report said.

Although Japan continued to be the country with the highest density of robots -- measured by the number of robots for every 10,000 people employed -- it was the only major economy in which industrial usage was seen falling slightly over the next few years, the report said.

This was due to Japan's long recession and the fact it got off to a faster start than others in "robotising" industry.

"Robot business was booming in Japan in the 1980's and 1990's. The optimism was unlimited. It seemed as if everything that could be robotised was," the report said.