Most people don’t realize how robotic agents have become a ubiquitous part of daily lives

Science-fiction is often considered a precursor to nonfiction, predicting ideas that eventually become science fact. Robots were once among the most captivating subjects of science fiction, yet today, robots or robotic agents are no longer bound to daydreams, but play an active role in providing our comfort and well-being.

These robots work behind the scenes, allowing us to enjoy the modern luxuries of portable communication devices with email, voice, and video-chat, as well as automated heating and cooling, automated garage doors, automated lighting, and automated dusting. The typical modern home has well over 100 embedded microprocessors with an additional 50 to 80 in the modern automobile. Using one definition of a robot as “a mechanical or virtual artificial agent,” it can be suggested that microprocessors are modern-age robots working for us. We estimate our work capacity by the number of microprocessors we possesses in the same way our ancestors estimated their work capacity by the number of mules they owned.

In that sense, Gordon Moore’s forecasting of the “age of robots” has finally come true. Way back in 1965, Moore predicted that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit would double every two years, resulting in a rapid growth of digital technology caused by the subsequent increase in microprocessor density; this is similar to compounded interest growth from a bank. “The advantages of integration will bring about a proliferation of electronics, pushing this science into many new areas. Integrated circuits will lead to such wonders as home computers—or at least terminals connected to a central computer—automatic controls for automobiles, and personal portable communications equipment. The electronic wristwatch needs only a display to be feasible today,” wrote Gordon Moore in a 1965 issue of Electronics. 

A second aspect of Moore’s law that has come true is the drastic decrease in microprocessor cost. Currently, it’s possible to purchase a single microprocessor for as little as a dollar, or for a few pennies if purchased in bulk, a value that has single-handedly contributed to the wide proliferation of microprocessors in practically every electronic device.

We rarely stop and think about how our way of life utterly depends on microprocessors. They exist in the programmable air conditioning that helps us sleep at night and save energy, the washing machines that clean our clothing and frees up time, the digital video recorders (DVRs) that record our TV shows, and even the light dimmers that we can now control remotely. Bill Laumeister, an application engineer at Maxim Integrated, counted 87 electrically operated machines and 278 microprocessors in his home. 

Some argue that Laumeister may have used his engineering expertise to automate additional functions unavailable to the average person, but his home is representative of the 21st century standard of living that’ll soon permeate every household with the rise of Internet-connected objects and ease of access; coffee makers, alarm clocks, and mood-lighting systems are just some of the examples of devices that have already joined the collective Internet-of-Things.

Regardless of function, microprocessors have become a ubiquitous part of every digital item in our home. To sustain this way of life and allow it to proliferate, we require the collective collaboration of efficient microprocessors and a steady supply of electricity. Our comfortable lives are more fragile than one would suspect.

Via Maxim Integrated