At AEye, we spend much of our time thinking about how to create a world-class artificial perception system for autonomous vehicles. With AEye’s iDAR™ technology, the promise of safe and efficient autonomous vehicles will one day become a reality. But there are other (perhaps, less obvious) aspects of our lives that would benefit from full autonomy! With this thought in mind, we decided to ask some of our employees:
If you could have anything in your life (besides a vehicle) be autonomous, what would it be and why?
From autonomous kitchens to umbrellas that bend in the direction of rain, the responses we got back were incredibly creative and are exactly what we hope the future has in store. Find out for yourself —
An autonomous, robotic butler
Umar Piracha, LiDAR Systems Engineer
If I could have anything in my life (beside a vehicle) be autonomous, it would be a personalized, robotic butler. I see this as being something similar to “R2-D2” from Star Wars, but domesticated and perfected to my requirements. It would answer phone calls, greet guests at the door, help kids with their homework, assist in the planning of events and dinner parties, oversee table settings, order and/or fetch groceries, fix plumbing and electrical issues in the house, and serve drinks and food. It would also have managerial authority over other autonomous robots and appliances in the house — such as the autonomous vacuum cleaner, lawn mower, car, fridge, TV, interior home lighting, and blinds. The best part is, I see this becoming a reality, due to the advances in artificial intelligence, robotics, and autonomous mobility. Welcome to the future — it’s nearer than you think!
An autonomous cinema seat searcher
David Oroshnik, Field Application Engineer
I would love to automate the process of searching for a reserved movie theater seat! The system would find a seat that’s not in the first few rows, at a movie playing within a geo-fenced area, and showing within a specific time frame. The output would be a list of show times, theaters, and seats ranked by some order of preference.
An autonomous umbrella
Amy Ishiguro, NPI Engineer
I’ve always wanted an umbrella that would bend toward the rain so that I’d be shielded no matter what direction the wind is blowing. My main problems with umbrellas are: 1) I never seem to have one when I need it, and 2) I tend to leave them at restaurants and cafes. A solution to this problem would be a lightweight rain-shield that lies mostly unnoticed in a backpack or purse but self-deploys and self-folds when it detects the presence or absence of rain. It would make a perfect addition to my daily ensemble.
Autonomous cleaning
Ashika Schroll, Director, Business Development
I would love to have an autonomous machine that does my laundry — presses and folds items automatically, and presents me with folded, clean clothes in nice order. Outside of personal, autonomous appliances, it would greatly help the environment to have autonomous debris collectors around The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which currently contains close to 100,000 tonnes of plastic debris.
Pascal: the fully autonomous kitchen
John Jackson, Sr. Staff Optical Engineer
My vision is for a fully autonomous kitchen — which I would name Pascal! Before I leave for work, Pascal would present me with a list of choices for dinner, or I could enter something else. While I’m working on autonomous vehicles, Pascal would consider my dinner choice and find a good recipe on the web. He would then check the contents of the cabinets and refrigerator and send out an order for anything he doesn’t have (the needed ingredients would be delivered autonomously, of course). At the proper time, Pascal would whir into action and prepare the meal so that it will be ready upon our arrival (he would track me and other family members via GPS on our phones). I would arrive home to be greeted by the smells of Pascal’s fine cooking. When we’re done eating, we would put the dishes in the sink and Pascal would rinse them, load them in the dishwasher, and have them cleaned. Before I go to bed, I would tell Pascal what I’d like for breakfast in the morning. I can’t wait for Pascal to become a reality!
AEye is an artificial perception pioneer and creator of iDAR™, an artificial perception system that acts as the eyes and visual cortex of autonomous vehicles. Since its demonstration of its solid-state LiDAR scanner in 2013, AEye has pioneered breakthroughs in intelligent sensing. The company is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, and backed by world-renowned investors including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Taiwania Capital, Hella Ventures, LG Electronics, Subaru-SBI, Aisin, Intel Capital, Airbus Ventures, and others.
Learn more at www.aeye.ai
