Cloud Robotics

Great! I saw it last night and got really excited. My favorite demo was how they use tablets to replace a robotic head or to hold it in front of the users head as a window into the robots world.

To me cloud computing is not just the next big thing but a 100% necessary and logical step towards cheaper and better service robots. Somehow though, lots of robotic researches I speak to [1], not only the senior ones, don't like the idea. What bothers them, is that such a robot is not autonomous anymore.

But how autonomous is a machine that needs to recharge its battery every other hour? What is more reasonable assumption? That you can recharge your robot where and whenever you want or that you can have internet access?

Good to see, that there is plenty of the best people that work on cloud robotics now. Can't wait to try some stuff out! Only down sight: Does this mean I have to use Java now?

[1] Right now, mostly Europeans.