Panasonic's 16-Finger, Hair-Washing Robot 181
angry tapir writes "Panasonic has developed a hair-washing robot that uses 16 electronically controlled fingers to give a perfect wash and rinse. The robot, images of which were distributed by Panasonic, appears to be about the size of a washing machine. Users sit in a reclining chair and lean back to place their head in the machine's open top. Two robot arms guide the 16 fingers, which have the same dexterity as human fingers, the company claims."
Problem solved? (Score:4, Interesting)
One has to wonder... exactly what problem does this solve? In order for this to be successful commercially, it will have to cost less than the equivalent of paying someone to do the washing by hand. If you look at automatic hair driers which are fairly common in hair salons, it makes sense, because the cost of the machine is low compared to paying someone to do the job. This on the other hand I can't see ever being cost effective; the cost of the robotics, software and safety considerations are too high to make it commercially viable. Neat idea but hardly a successful, sellable product.
Re:Luckily for us... (Score:3, Interesting)
Panasonic hasn't provided a launch date for any of the robots. An obstacle to their commercialization likes in the lack of safety standards and liability laws concerning robots that interact with humans.
Also, if you read between the lines of the title of TFA:
Panasonic unleashes 16-finger, hair washing robot
one may get quite scared (not very far from: "unleash a security-trained doberman dog").
That's the point (Score:3, Interesting)
These robots obey the three laws, so one won't ever go bezerk and crush the skull of a human...
I think that's precisely the point. It must be relatively easy to just not give the robot enough strength to harm a skull. So, you get a almost completely safe robot that handle's people's heads.
Five years later, the population becomes ready to accept robots in their homes. This is but a stepping stone to make people feel safe:
Head wash -> back massage -> chiropraxis -> open heart operations -> brain tumor removal -> handjob.