Robot me, robot you

Will your favorite TV robot soon be knocking at your door?

We all grew up watching movies and TV shows that included robots, from cartoons like the Jetsons to dramas like Lost in Space. Robots still continue to draw awe even in the biggest blockbuster movies like Avatar . When I was six years old, I saw the first Star Wars . I came out of that movie thinking when I grew up, or at least by now, I’d have a robot to do everything from menial task like washing dishes to advising me on what to do in complex situations. Okay, maybe I was getting ahead of myself, but I was only six. . . .

Now it’s 2010, and I still have no robot to do my bidding. So it got me wondering how plausible is it for us to see robots similar to those is the movies in the next 10 years, or so, based on current robotic development being worked on right now from companies and the military to research universities.

When they show upMy first reaction, as a child, was one of wonder, maybe because of George Lucas’ setting for Star Wars , but not all people see robots the same way. From my experience, most people either have one of two reactions when they see or meet (yes, meet) a robot: either they love it or they think it is just plan creepy, especially the android form.

Why?

My guess is that creators, whether in entertainment or technology itself, draw from what they know best their own inner human psyche and how we interact with the world. For some those similarities are too much. For others it is a wonder.

While doing my research the one thing I determine quickly was there is no common definition to what a robot is or must be. So how do we define the word “robot”? This is a tough one.

Most sources described androids over robots. For example, the Merriam Webster Dictionary defines a robot as “a machine that looks like a human being and performs various complex acts (as walking or talking) of a human being” and an android as a “mobile robot usually with a human form.” The Oxford English Dictionary defines a robot as “a machine capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically, especially one programmable by a computer.” While less dramatic of a definition, it is also very simple one that allows even children’s toys to be classified as robots.

So to define a robot is a bit harder than one expects and one we may never agree upon. The word’s origin though comes from the Czech for “forced labor,” as Len Schiefer, Electronic Products’ Copy Chief, pointed out to me. (Huh…Interesting.)

Movies vs. realitySo, how do our favorite movies and TV robots stack up to real life? Will they be a reality in the next 10 years? Next month, find out if your favorite robots will soon be knocking on your door. . . .Bryan DeLuca

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