Specifications

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2.2 The Need for Autonomous Applications
Imagine never having to wash, iron, clean or cook again. A robot could do it all for you
while you sit back and relax. To some this seems like the perfect world, while to others
it seems unethical and truly against their beliefs. The demand for autonomous
applications is becoming ever more increasing and public acceptance is also on the
increase.
The company ‘Poly Micro’ argued in their 2004 newsletter that autonomous appliances
will grow because of consumers increasing expectations of energy and water saving,
noise reduction and overall efficiency and functionality. They also bring to focus that
more technology is being accepted within society. The following graph from poly
micros 2003 newsletter shows the acceptance of new technology relating to the
automation of driving systems within a manned vehicle.
Poly Micro predicts that by 2010 autonomous driving will be largely accepted as
practical by society. New cars of today are considered dangerous not to have an airbag
whereas 20 years ago this technology was not heard of.
Although this data varies slightly from this dissertation work, the trend of need and
acceptance through time is accurately portrayed in Figure 2.3.
http://www.polymicro-cc.com/site/pdf/POLYMICRO-markets.pdf
Figure 2.3: Increasing technologies