Consumers want useful robots, executive says

17.04.2009
Hollywood movies may offer entertainment, but looking to the big screen for consumer robot ideas most likely won't produce profitable devices, a robotics company executive told an industry conference this week.

The robotics industry should instead consider whether a robot will actually solve a problem consumers have, said Matt Fisher, founder and CTO of KumoTek, a robotics engineering and design company in Texas. More collaboration in the industry would also help to generate successful designs, he said.

"The robotics industry traditionally takes a top-down approach," said Fisher, who spoke Thursday during a session at the RoboBusiness Conference in Boston. "The pitfall is, we want to see our product succeed and we're not listening to the consumer."