 We robots
FORGET ROBOTS THAT WALK. VALLEY RESEARCHERS WANT THEM TO CLIMB, JUMP, SWIM AND FLY
By Therese Poletti
Mercury News
In 2035, sleek humanoid robots that walk, talk and think will be as common as iPods.
At least they are in ``I, Robot.'' When the big-budget thriller hits movie screens Friday, it will be hard not to notice the gap between the clunky robots of today and those doing battle with Will Smith's Detective Del Spooner.
Yet the future is arriving, one bot at a time. Robots today conduct surgery, build cars and explore other planets. They're even living in our homes. The Roomba robotic vacuum cleans floors while the RoboMower trims lawns. It's not quite ``The Jetsons,'' but it's a start.
The holy grail for robotics researchers is an autonomous robot that walks and understands and responds to human commands. ``Ultimately, that's why we are all here,'' says scientist Charles Ortiz, pointing to a model of the robot from ``Lost in Space'' that sits on his conference table at SRI International in Menlo Park. Ortiz is program manager of the Artificial Intelligence Center at SRI, a non-profit organization that operates one of the country's leading robotics research centers. More>> |
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