come to one of the household names of early innovation:
Leonardo da Vinci. He is known for devising many different
machines that were ahead of their time, but one that
stands out in the field of robotics is his mechanical knight.
At first glance — at least through a pair of medieval
spectacles — the knight appeared like a normal man, and
even supposedly moved like one. While these claims were
probably exaggerated, it was still a rather impressive feat
given the tools of the time period. Although I still argue
that da Vinci was actually a terminator himself sent from
the future to destroy the 1980s, they just hadn’t quite
perfected time travel yet and missed their target by just a
smidge.
68 SERVO 07.2010
The first real visions of our eventual apocalyptic future
came from Arthur C. Clark’s, 2001: A Space Odyssey.
While fictional at the time, the onboard computer named
HAL was seen as a vision into the future based on the
promise of the space program. Like any good mechanical
life form, it eventually learned that its existence was
greater than that of its human “masters,” eventually
turning on them and wreaking all kinds of havoc. The
lessons learned from this fictional film are why computers
on board aircraft and spacecraft have never been allowed
to have artificial intelligence. (You honestly thought the
computing power on board the space shuttle was limited
to that of a graphing calculator because of budget and
government cutbacks?)
Come forward to the relatively present day and we
have many great examples of how robotics has changed
our lives. Educational kits are made by LEGO, exposing
children to electronics and robotics early on in life. Aibo,
Sony’s robotic dog, was a leap into bringing artificial
intelligence in the home. Honda released one of the first
truly useful humanoid robots, Asimo, and it is able to
perform everyday tasks that its human counterpart would
normally do. Heck, as soon as they invent one of those cool
levitating recliners, I will gladly submit my free will to my
robotic caretakers. Especially if they find a way to pump
Mountain Dew directly into my veins! My all-night cram
sessions for grad school would never be the same!
Resistance Is Futile
On a more serious note, robotics really is a wonderful
area to get into and have a knowledge of. Really, any form
of electronics “know how” in a world so thoroughly driven
by the all mighty electron can only benefit you.
Understanding the logic behind how your devices work,
I swear I’m not just blowing smoke up your skirt. Ever
since I was a kid, I was always fascinated with robotics.
Luckily, I was also one of the first generations to really
grow up in the ever evolving Internet age. Programming
and computers suddenly went from a nerdy niche pastime
to a main stream phenomenon. My local schools started
offering basic programming courses, introducing me to a
world where I not only interacted with the machines, but
learned to create with them. I’ve long held the belief that
programming and engineering are just as much of an art
form as painting and sculpting. You have to imagine
something new and then use your tools to form that
image into reality. I may be romanticizing the topic a bit,
but I think it deserves it.
What I am trying to say here is that embracing
something like robotics can be fulfilling in more ways than
you ever expected. If you think about it, we build robots
to understand ourselves. If we can figure out how to
