Has a Robot Revolution Started, or Is It Still 20 Years Off?
Computerworld (04/10/08) Gaudin, Sharon

A robotic revolution is three to five years off with robotic aides and companions expected to penetrate households as prices fall and technology advances, says Microsoft's Tandy Trower. Trower says the absence of a standard software platform is the reason why the growth of robotics has been so slow in recent years, and his group is currently updating its Robotics Studio software, which features a toolset and a series of programming libraries that sit on top of Windows. James Kuffner of Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute says the revolution Trower is predicting is more likely to come in approximately 20 years, which is when he expects multi-functional humanoid robots that do not require special programming to be common household appliances. Meanwhile, The Envisioneering Group's Richard Doherty says people who are afraid of losing employment to robots could act as an impediment to progress in the robotics industry. "We need to see robots in a different light," he says. "We need people to understand that this machine could help care for their grandmother." British artificial intelligence researcher David Levy has gone so far as to predict that marriages between humans and robots will be taking place by 2050 thanks to dramatic technological advances. "In the last 20 years, we've been moving toward robots that have relationships with humans, and it will keep growing toward a more emotional relationship," he said in an interview.
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