If you were thinking multipurpose C3P0 style robots, then the revolution has been 5 years in the future for the last 30 years.
However single-purpose robots have become part of the fabric of most industries. Heck, most people don't even think of them as robots. So the revolution happened, it is now the new normal.
I had a similar thought the other day while using an automated paper towel dispenser. "Isn't this primitive robot?" Yet, I'd never really thought to apply the term "robot." It'll be interesting to watch the evolution from dumb/single-purpose robots to smarter/multi-purpose ones.
If that's a primitive robot, we've had primitive robots since the first push-button elevator or automatic door, many decades ago.
It's like the defining-down of AI. Proponents promised strong AI Real Soon Now for decades; now they say that we're just being unfair if we don't count email filters as "AI".
There's a (probably apocryphal?) story of a professor asking his students to design a robot to wash dishes. Most came up with something along the lines of Rosie from the Jetsons; only one offered the 'right' answer which was something along the lines of "why waste time designing when I can buy one from the appliance section at Sears?"
It's too bad there apparently aren't any robots ready to put into service in Fukushima. They might have robotic arms or cranes for doing things like shuffling fuel rods, but what can help with doing improvised welding or wiring in a hostile environment?
In recent months NHK reported on experiments in using simple robots that could help the elderly in Japan with a few chores, but they were a flop mainly because the people involved rejected them instead insisting on human companionship. There's a shortage of working-age people, and a growing percentage of retirement age people there. Many of the younger people stay in the larger cities making the shift even more dramatic in some areas. In the 60's many predicted flat-panel on the wall television sets to be in use by the 80's. It looks like general purpose robots will take longer than many would have hoped too.
Perhaps something remotely controlled by a human with VR gloves etc is viable for the emergency repairs? Things would have to be well shielded to avoid having stray neutrons altering data bits.
Comments
If you were thinking multipurpose C3P0 style robots, then the revolution has been 5 years in the future for the last 30 years.
However single-purpose robots have become part of the fabric of most industries. Heck, most people don't even think of them as robots. So the revolution happened, it is now the new normal.
I had a similar thought the other day while using an automated paper towel dispenser. "Isn't this primitive robot?" Yet, I'd never really thought to apply the term "robot." It'll be interesting to watch the evolution from dumb/single-purpose robots to smarter/multi-purpose ones.
If that's a primitive robot, we've had primitive robots since the first push-button elevator or automatic door, many decades ago.
It's like the defining-down of AI. Proponents promised strong AI Real Soon Now for decades; now they say that we're just being unfair if we don't count email filters as "AI".
There's a (probably apocryphal?) story of a professor asking his students to design a robot to wash dishes. Most came up with something along the lines of Rosie from the Jetsons; only one offered the 'right' answer which was something along the lines of "why waste time designing when I can buy one from the appliance section at Sears?"
It's too bad there apparently aren't any robots ready to put into service in Fukushima. They might have robotic arms or cranes for doing things like shuffling fuel rods, but what can help with doing improvised welding or wiring in a hostile environment?
In recent months NHK reported on experiments in using simple robots that could help the elderly in Japan with a few chores, but they were a flop mainly because the people involved rejected them instead insisting on human companionship. There's a shortage of working-age people, and a growing percentage of retirement age people there. Many of the younger people stay in the larger cities making the shift even more dramatic in some areas. In the 60's many predicted flat-panel on the wall television sets to be in use by the 80's. It looks like general purpose robots will take longer than many would have hoped too.
Perhaps something remotely controlled by a human with VR gloves etc is viable for the emergency repairs? Things would have to be well shielded to avoid having stray neutrons altering data bits.
iRobot, the Roomba company, has sent PackBots and robots of that ilk to Fukushima.