It’s no secret that the world of robotics and AI are swiftly changing and increasing its relevance in the entire human race.

Companies who produce hardware are building more and more complex devices that require more and more complex AI algorithms and microchips to operate. Smartphones are the next big thing in robotics, as the IoT (Internet of Things) expands exponentially.

As smartphone manufacturers look to lower their manufacturing costs and increase profits, while still keeping up with the robotics and AI trends, they are beginning to enter the robotics field themselves by developing their own microchips and modems which can support their own AI. 


The Future of Robotics

Perhaps the most exciting news of the future of smartphone technology is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820. Qualcomm recently announced that it is working on this new type of processor that will enable smartphones to learn. With the launch of Snapdragon 820, smartphones equipped with the new technology will be able to acquire information about their environments and their users, and detect sounds and motions to make educated decisions of their own.

This type of autonomous decision-making has thus far been met with mixed reactions when it has been incorporated, to different extents, into past devices. For example, vehicles that were recently released with many algorithms that made the cars able to nearly drive themselves, such as Google car, were not accepted or desired by everyone. Now, vehicle manufacturers actually market to the opposite side, appealing to drivers who wish to gain back the power they had before most of the power was given to the vehicle to make decisions of its own (Semi-Autonomous Mode).

This attitude reflects the natural human tendency to learn from machines that make decisions of their own and take actions without informing us. However, smartphone technology that has the ability to act on its own does have benefits. A smartphone is something that nearly every person now carries with him/her at all times. Having a smartphone in your pocket that can work with you as a sort of side-kick when you need it has the potential to be a great safety measure.

The technologies that we are already cramming into these small devices are the same technologies that we need for many robotics applications, such as accelerometers and cameras, along with the languages that allow for rapid development of simple applications. We are entering the age of the IoT (Internet of Things) – and it only makes sense for many of those things to be powered by the ‘universal remote’ we carry around with us every day. In essence, every single item in our home will possess Artificial Intelligence, the fridge, the toaster, even the walls themselves – built with the technologies that smartphones are making more cost effective day by day.
Thus, with endless possibilities for applications, Qualcomm’s release of smartphone robotics technology is all set to make a major splash in the technology field. While tech geeks are waiting eagerly for this splash, it would be worthwhile to wait and watch how quickly technology and its benefits reach common people, and how quickly public is able to integrate this change possible in our daily life.