Forbes magazine has been doing a series for a few years that examines the hottest trends in technology and innovation where they annually pick a group of tech innovators to watch (colloquially known as their “E-Gang”).
In the current series, they have presented masters of robotic invention and innovation: “entrepreneurs and researchers who fuse advances in biomechanics, software, sensor technology, materials science and computing to create new generations of robotic assistants.”
The “robots” of today are more on the move than ever before—walking, climbing, rolling, even leaping and flying. The premise is still virtually the same as it has been since 1400BC when the Babylonians developed the “Clepsydra”, (a clock that measured time using the flow of water). Some consider it to be one of the first “robotic” devices in history, although it seems that throughout time the notion of automation devices has evolved into robotics as we know it. The underlying premise then, is to help mankind. Some of this help comes in the form of protection, some comes from labor-saving, some from doing jobs that are too dangerous for humans, and even some is to amuse and entertain us. The Forbes article states that “…some even do floors…”
See the slideshare below for the Great Robotic Moments in History
Since as early as 322BC man has recorded thoughts of the use of a helper or robot when Aristotle wrote about the great utility of robots:
"If every tool, when ordered, or even of its own accord, could do the work that befits it … then there would be no need either of apprentices for the master workers or of slaves for the lords."
Within our generations, since 1921 when playwright Karel Capek popularized the term “Robota” (robota means “forced labor” in Capek’s native Czech) which evolved directly into “Robot”, we have imagined and fantasized about what robots could do for us.
So far, reality has fallen short of our imagination—Honda’s most world-reknown robot Asimo, who was introduced in 2000, has now been relegated to car shows, doing temp work as a receptionist at Honda, and shows at Disneyland.
The bulk of the remainder of the worlds’ robots are relegated to permanent spots on factory floors where they perform mundane existences as laborers: welding, stamping, and cutting.
The future though looks extremely bright. Learning has been the key for both the robots and their designers. Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute has been an incubator for much of the current work on robots in
The people working on these robotic projects are as diverse as the reasons for wanting robots. Some have been pioneers devoting their whole lives to developing robots such as Colin Angle and Helen Greiner who founded iRobot with help from the aforementioned Rodney Brooks. In the medical world, Russell Taylor has contributed to innovations in surgical robots for decades.
Others are relative newcomers such as Sebastian Thrun from Stanford who last year won a US DoD race of autonomous vehicles through the desert, and Mark Cutkoski (also of Stanford) who collaborated with an insightful biologist, Robert Full of Cal-Berkely to create a research device for studying nature called the “StickBot” who can crawl.
Still others are bringing robotics to the masses like Soren Lund at Lego with the Lego NXT robot which was once considered a kind of “esoteric” engineering. Yoskiyuki Sankai at the
And the group called UGobe headed by Caleb Chung that reminds us that creativity and playfulness has long been a hallmark of robot-human interaction.
The market for robots is “small” according to Forbes at a paltry $18 billion (including the software and peripherals) but growing rapidly—growth predictions by the International Federation of Robots (IFR), estimate we will see some 7 million service robots in service by 2008. (Prediction?!)
The most interesting story here about the robots coming is that they (their technology and innovation) are calling on the ingenuity of people from wildly diverse backgrounds (biologists, teachers, entertainers, scientists) who are shaping the ways we interact and create them.
For more, see the 7 Amazing Robots that will change your life slideshare on my blog here
The general manager of Microsoft’s robotics group (you know Bill Gates would have his nose directly in the middle of this competition [as does Steve Jobs I’m sure]) Tandy Trower (ok, I had to comment on his name too—“Tandy” in charge of robotics? Remember the Tandy TRS-80??) anyway, Mr. Trower proclaims that “…robotics today, remind him of the early days of the PC—chock-full of ideas, opportunities and too many different operating systems!”
The robots are coming—expect them EVERYWHERE…
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