Indeed 2005 was the year of the robots, but there are many more years to come. It cannot be debated that in 2005 the greatest strides in robotics yet was observed. We watched NASA use a robotic arm to assemble things in space. We watched a car named Stanley move through the desert averaging nearly 30 miles per hour without a driver, fully autonomously without remote control. Wall Street applauded iRobot as it made its public offering debut. We even observed robotic automotive factories and their efficiencies to force 60,000 Union Autoworkers out of their jobs as both GM and Ford announced massive layoffs. But thats not all as scientists realized a dream when a monkey and his brain was hooked up to a computer screen and the monkey moved an object on the screen simply by thought for a free banana, ushering in a new age of the blending of man-computer and robotic machines. Scientists made robotic fish and the United States Military enlisted UAVs or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to help fight the war on terror in 2005. Artificial limbs and prosthetics advanced sharply in 2005 as soldiers maimed in battle from roadside IEDs came back and needed body parts. In 2006 we will see robotics get very small and the introduction of nanobots in the real world not just in scientific journals and white papers but being produced for all sorts of applications from environmental membrane filtration to medical uses in the body. We will see UAVs, which fly together and work together in teams and swarms. We will see disaster assistance robots, which actually go in and save lives. We will see urban infrastructure surveillance bots and home security robots that look like the family pet. Along with this we will see the first sex android robots produced and sold in Japan. We will see elderly care robots, multi-use home cleaning robots and robotic transportation such as buses and trucks. All this and more is coming and will be here soon, some now others by the middle of June. So think on this in 2006. |
