Idea #3 - Robot Nanny

For this idea, we started by thinking about children's welfare. Parents are becoming increasingly wary about the safety of their children, even in the home. There are many baby monitoring products available on the market today, most of them taking the 'walkie talkie' style monitors. These have to be set up in each respective room, with the parent having to keep their monitor near them at all times.

There are a number of other products available to monitor a child's health. For example, touch-sensitive sheets that lay under the child's cot are used to monitor the baby's breathing.However, our proposed idea should take this to the next level. The basic functionality of the robot nanny would be for monitoring. This would entail a camera and microphone constantly watching and listening to the child. This would then relay information back to the parents' laptop or palm-top computer over a wireless network.


Further features of such an invention could include preparation of drinks and simple food. The nanny could also have input and output devices, such as a screen and keyboard. This could mean that not only could the parent(s) 'configure' the nanny to their own specific needs, but the child could have considerable interaction with the robot. Things like speech, interaction and personal skills could all be improved, while at the same time the robot is making sure the child is safe and that the parent can have direct access without being in the same room.

The important factor in this idea is getting a good balance of functionality, feasibility, ease of use and cost to ensure that it would provide an effective childcare tool.