Robotic Sensibilities
by
Randy Mears
I like to think about a number of topics that relate to emerging technologies. That’s why I write about things like nanotechnology, mobile technologies and robotics. It is particularly satisfying when multiple technologies come together yielding cross discipline solutions to specific thorny problems. I am particularly attuned to such developments in robotics.
When we examine modern robotics we find that robots are commonly used in manufacturing to perform relatively simple and repetitive tasks. Even though these solutions have a low “Wow” factor, they often represent the state-of-the-art in robotics. But the word “robot” still fuels our imagination, because the popular meaning of the word comes from science fiction, not from the factory floor.
So when I read about a new breakthrough in nanotechnology that gives a sense of touch to robotics, I interpret it as a step closer to the robots of science fiction even though it is really still just about the factory floor.
