Where is robotic technology going?

I wonder sometimes if our existing preconceptions of future technology don't mislead us from where the good stuff will eventually come from. I ask because I see that engineers have created this:

It's absolutely adorable. It's also nothing like what I expected robots to look like; but it's an interesting new direction for the field, and for all I know everything in cutting-edge robotics is like that.

What do you think is next? And how far off the mark are our sci-fi notions of how robotics will end up?

Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.

One thing I am getting very excited about is telepresence. The technology is starting to be fairly mature by now, and its applications could be very interesting.

Just imagine. What if any person would own a multitude of small robots, some flying, some burrowing, some walking, and could move them, see what they are seeing, and so on, using an easy-to-transport and efficient interface?

The practical applications alone would be staggering — but from a more entertainment-based perspective, that would mean that one could, for example, spend some time "flying" in the upper atmosphere using a specially designed "body", then switch to some other "body" which is instead exploring an interesting cave system somewhere in the world, and so on...

But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.

I definitely think the "metal men" style of robots is gonna be side-stepped in favor or more organic but non-anthropomorphic stuff. Like that creepy undead starfish-inchworm thing in the video.

There definitely seems to be a lot more emphasis on animal biomimicry than science fiction writers usually predicted, and less on androids/gynoids (though there is work on that). I think that's mainly a practicality thing; there's not much point building a receptionist from plastic and metal when you can hire one, but you can't very well train a snake to maneuver through earthquake wreckage for you.

[1] This facsimile operated in part by synAC.

Much of peoples preconceptions come from art and entertainment. Artists are morons. Hence, many preconceptions are stupid.

Machines are designed to do something, even if that something is just "let's see what'll happen", so the machines design will gravitate toward whatever purpose is desired. Since thinking up purposes beyond "let's add a robot character!" is hard and requires thought, it's very rare to see.

Fight smart, not fair.

It's going straight into military R&D, at least, in the States. I'd be quite surprised if other countries weren't pursuing their own robotic military technology, if only not to be left in the dust by everyone else.

Allow me to change this somewhat: artists have ideas that may or may not work. Ideas that work are soon put into practice, and they stop being science fiction. When they don't work, scientists eventually discover new ideas, and turn the old ones into Zeerust. This means that ideas that don't work can stick around a lot longer than ideas that do work.

edited 30th Nov '11 12:29:50 AM by feotakahari

That's Feo . . . He's a disgusting, mysoginistic, paedophilic asshat who moonlights as a shitty writer—Something Awful

If you want a better form: artists and writers put thought into, if anything, what will make an interesting story. As a result realism gets shot in the foot for the sake of creating a story, regardless of how much plot murdering reality would do. Unfortunately, peoples primary exposure to scientific knowledge comes from these same sources.

Fight smart, not fair.

Robotics, while really freaking cool, in my opinion, should be a second priority to nano/swarm technology, because they're a lot cooler.

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Organic Technology is starting to look like the way to go - mostly because its much easier to work with muscles and sinews than it is to work with gears and springs when it comes to "making fast moving robots". Also, why build nanobots, when you can simply re-program bacteria to do just about anything? Seriously, that's like trying to build a toaster from scrap when you have a perfectly good waffleiron to work with.

The future is going to be a symbiosis, really, between organics and metamaterials. And one of the first things that will be improved is ourselves - I foresee a day when every cell in our bodies is enhanced with cybernetics. I don't see us building Artificial Human like creatures, however - why build something from scratch when you can simply enhance the existing infrastructure?

Because it's COOLER!

And I came up with a very good weapon that could be used, and I have assurances from various people that this could be done.

The Nano-Bomb- A missile that releases a swarm of nanobots over an enemy city, converting the inhabitants into more nanobots, while leaving the buildings intact, to prevent Gray Goo, they have an inbuilt kill limit that will make them shut down. in the event of a Failsafe Failure, they can be shut down with a remote control.

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You didn't come up with that. Sid Meier did:

If you notice what I said, I said the bomb leaves the buildings intact for a tactical advantage, in the video, the city is destroyed.

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