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A robotics team at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, under the direction of Dr Robert Ambrose, is developing a new breed of space robots called Robonaut. Robonaut, designed to be as human‐like as possible, will be controlled by telepresence and will work in extravehicular activity (EVA) environments, allowing astronauts to remain safely inside the spacecraft.

With almost a decade of experience, HelpMate is a material transport service robot that works in hospitals, side‐by‐side with human co‐workers, delivering equipment and supplies to and from nursing units. Much has been written about the technology that allows HelpMate to navigate autonomously in such non‐structured environments, but little attention has been paid to the non‐technical aspects of these service applications. What special conditions exist in non‐manufacturing environments that a service robot must be able to cope with? How should a service robot be introduced into such environments? How is such a robot received by its fellow human beings? This paper shares the lessons that HelpMate has learned.

Demonstrates that present technologies are sufficient to produce a household robot for the elderly or disabled, that is able to undertake a wide range of domestic chores and supply 24 hour care and companionship.