A familiar cliché in autonomy research is that we want unmanned systems to be like a dog, i.e. independently capable of some tasks, but fundamentally subject to the control of a human operator. Researchers at Auburn University evidently felt “like a dog” wasn’t adequate and went for the real thing.
What are “medical-grade” computers? Do doctors really need one? Are they good for anything else besides healthcare?
I am very bullish about the long-term prospects for UGVs. As I wrote in “UGVs &UAVs in domestic markets,” I expect UGVs (and their subsystems) to be in demand for healthcare, agriculture, telepresence, logistics, transport, and above all, autonomous automobiles. While these applications may undergo tremendous growth, I don’t expect any of them to become so widespread in the next six years as to cause a 20% annual market increase.
