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April 27th, 2007, 10:45 AM
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Science Fiction suffers from a severe case of Cassandra Syndrome. It has the ability to see into the future, but it is cursed in that no one believes it. We scoff at Star Trek communicators, and 15 years later everyone has a cell-phone. We laugh at Dick Tracy's watch, and now we pull out our Nokia and go from watching TV on the Subway, to videotaping a street performer, to video conferencing with a friend, to downloading and listening to the latest tunes. But the cycle is never broken. We continue to doubt the possibilities of the future, and never fail to be unimpressed when that future arrives.
When you see the robot in action, you will have one of two feelings (most likely both): Part of you will be cynical about the progress being made. It will look like a puppet-show, and the emotions and reactions from the designers will feel canned and corny. And then there will be moments when you feel like you are seeing the future in the present. When you realize that this is a scene right out of A.I., the first, clumsy model before the ones that move in with us and clean our house. We are on the cusp of something special, something that could happen in our lifetimes as significant as the integrated chip, but by the time we are aware of it, we will be numb to it. It will seem obvious and unavoidable, like the personal communicators which have become ubiquitous.
Check out more at Hanson Robotics. (http://www.hansonrobotics.com/)
Science Fiction suffers from a severe case of Cassandra Syndrome. It has the ability to see into the future, but it is cursed in that no one believes it. We scoff at Star Trek communicators, and 15 years later everyone has a cell-phone. We laugh at Dick Tracy's watch, and now we pull out our Nokia and go from watching TV on the Subway, to videotaping a street performer, to video conferencing with a friend, to downloading and listening to the latest tunes. But the cycle is never broken. We continue to doubt the possibilities of the future, and never fail to be unimpressed when that future arrives.
When you see the robot in action, you will have one of two feelings (most likely both): Part of you will be cynical about the progress being made. It will look like a puppet-show, and the emotions and reactions from the designers will feel canned and corny. And then there will be moments when you feel like you are seeing the future in the present. When you realize that this is a scene right out of A.I., the first, clumsy model before the ones that move in with us and clean our house. We are on the cusp of something special, something that could happen in our lifetimes as significant as the integrated chip, but by the time we are aware of it, we will be numb to it. It will seem obvious and unavoidable, like the personal communicators which have become ubiquitous.
Check out more at Hanson Robotics. (http://www.hansonrobotics.com/)