Examples include the ability to follow an embedded wire in the floor to deliver parts around a factory floor. Robot lawn mowers by Friendly Robotics hit the market in 2000, and in 2001 will be available through major retail outlets alongside traditional lawnmowers. Robot vacuum cleaners are next. Examples include 'bots that work in hazardous areas within nuclear reactors, detect and defuse bombs, and fight fires. Someday radar-collision avoidance systems will be in cars to prevent accidents.
Autonomous robots operate independently.
These intelligent and responsive 'bots have on-board sensing and computing capacity to freely respond to their environment while performing programmed tasks independently. Autonomous 'bots are roaming halls in health-care facilities, calling elevators and opening automated doors to deliver medical records, pharmaceuticals and equipment. Fully equipped 'bots deliver goods securely in locked compartments that require authorized thumb-scans before opening the containers.