Concept development of a household robot platform

Abstract: Recently, the consumer interest and revenue from domestic aide robots have been rapidly increasing. A report from 2018 estimates that the global revenue from this sector will rise from $6.4 billion to nearly $23 billion by 2022, an increase by 250%. This thesis covers a concept development process defining a multi-purpose, autonomous household robot. The focus user group is consumers, and it is aimed towards domestic purposes. However, the final concept is also evaluated with regards to other application areas that were identified during the thesis. The work is structured according to the Double Diamond model, and its four phases. Discover, the first phase, includes e.g. product/patent benchmarking and user research in order to gain information and inspiration. Based on this, more than 100 possible functions were identified. In the next phase, these were screened based on a user survey and target group. Following this, a survey of available sensor technology and positioning systems was performed. The final concept consists of an intelligence platform which is handling positioning, computing and connectivity. This is implemented on top of a movement module, which is specific for one, or several, application areas such as lawn mowing, vacuuming, etc. The movement module handles the basic functionality and movement, while also providing interfaces for several accessory modules. Only the intelligence platform and lawn moving movement module are defined in the thesis. Some possible accessory modules are illustrated in the renders.