The word “robot” was first created and popularized in the 1920s by the Czech brothers Karel and Josef Capek. The term is derived the Czech robotnik, “slave”, but the root “robot” is used in many Slavic languages to mean “work” or “labour”. Now, it seems, it’s a Russian who wants to make the word an everyday term by fuelling a robot revolution and developing robotics into a mass consumer product.
Dmitry Grishin, the co-founder of the Mail.ru Group and CEO of Russia’s leading email service, has launched an investment group, Grishin Robotics, based in New York and funded “with 25 million of his dollars,” writes Bloomberg.
Grishin Robotics is willing to invest into small- and medium-sized companies wishing to explore the personal robotic side of the market, rather than the industrial side of robotics, according to Singularity Hub.
“We’re talking about devices that can solve real-world problems,” Grishin told VentureVillage.eu. “We are targeting the areas of telepresence, domestic use, home security, and transport.” Grishin Robotics aims to help the environment and the elderly population as well as provide innovations for young people desiring “unique leisure activities.”
Grishin believes that the cost of producing robots are cheaper than they used to be and that if some brave investors are willing to take the risk and sponsor innovation, robotic devices can become a mass-market product, and the next big industry. “It’s time to make robotics technology available for every household.”
(Image courtesy Flickr user Peter Lindberg)