When I was a youngster, the Jetsons was a cool, futuristic cartoon. Who could forget the floating schools and shopping centers and Rosey the Robot from the rent-a-robot maid service? How cool to a youngling like myself. So, who knew that by 2004 robots would navigate a 132-mile trek in seven hours with humans watching on the sidelines? Yes, the robots were in control. Or that by 2007 there would be about 2 million personal robots such as vacuum cleaners and scrubbers, with South Korea stating that it wants a robot in every household by 2020? BTW: South Korea has already built a robot that can recognize 400 words and looks human-like.While impressive, that is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg regarding robotics.
Some of the most incredible robotics advancements have been in the military, with the U.S Defense Department hoping to have 1/3 of all units in combat to be robots by 2015. While most of us have heard of the Predator drones, I still have to wrap my head around the pilots who sit in Nevada, in a cubicle, flying these drones over Iraq and Afghanistan. Or what about the Global Hawk that can take off by itself, fly 3,000 miles, spend a day surveying an area and fly back and land itself? Hmmm...should future pilots be worried?
Interestingly enough, I recently read an article about how the Air Force is planning for an all-drone future. An Air Force study, Unmanned Aircraft System Flight Plan, suggests that in the future larger and more sophisticated flying robots might replace every type of manned aircraft in its inventory. Imagine that! While the study doesn't say this will definitely happen, just think about the possibilities. Trust me, this isn't taken lightly when you can buy 85 Predators for the price of one F-22, which is the Air Force's latest jet.
If you're interested in robotics, an absolute must read book is Wired for War by P.W. Singer. It is without a doubt the best book on robotics that I've read.
