Page 70 - Modern Robotics Building Versatile Macines

4

REAL-WORLD ROBOTS

COLIN ANGLE, HELEN GREINER, AND iROBOT

lthough the first electronic digital computers appeared in the
A mid-1940s, they would be confined for the next 30 years to
big corporations, government agencies, and universities. Even when
desktop personal computers first arrived in the 1970s, most people
considered them to be novelties or toys for adventurous electronics
hobbyists. Today, though, the personal computer in all its forms is
nearly as commonplace as the television and telephone. The explo-
sion in personal computing happened not only because the machines
became increasingly powerful, inexpensive, compact and versatile
but also because of compelling applications such as word process-
ing, e-mail, and the World Wide Web.
Household robots are at a stage of development similar to that of
the early days of the PC. Industrial robots have worked in factories
since the 1970s, and experimental robots have rolled and walked
through research labs, testing theories of artificial intelligence and
interacting with people in increasingly sophisticated ways. But
where is “Rosie,” the housekeeping robot from the old Jetsons tele-
vision show? The robot that can clean the house, do the dishes, take
out the trash, and even babysit while the parents have a night out?
Such robots remain far in the future. But thanks to pioneer inventor-
entrepreneurs Colin Angle and Helen Greiner of iRobot Corporation
(and their colleague and mentor Rodney Brooks) more than a million
robots were at work in American households by 2005, with growing
numbers appearing in other countries as well. Right now, they are
only cleaning the floor. But tomorrow a robot menagerie may take

50