What do you think of when the word robot is mentioned? Is it still the Terminator, or a Transformer? We tend to think of the most spectacular machines first, imaginary though they may be, and then move towards the actual, ie. industrial robots. Yet, it appears as though what comes to mind is beginning to change. For example, a few weeks ago Stephen Colbert did a segment on real robots that we should fear (and if that isn’t convincing click here). I’m guessing that this change is happening for a couple of reasons. First, through advancements, and a growing community of makers, the gap between what can be imagined and what can be made is closing. Secondly, all the curious machines that rarely would have entered the public eye prior to online video, are now going viral. Here are a few that come to mind…
Just found an interesting TED talks speech that relates to this, thought you might like it.
http://www.ted.com/talks/cynthia_breazeal_the_rise_of_personal_robots.html