Build Your Own Combat Robot

332 Build Your Own Combat Robot
the sum of its parts. Not only will this program encourage kids to take an interest
in science and engineering, but it will teach a wide variety of skills and lead to a
new generation of robot builders.
Whatever the fate of sport robotics, one thing is certain. Robots are increasingly
a part of the high-tech landscape, and progress is accelerating toward the day
when robots are routinely a part of everyday life. Deadblow’s Grant Imahara reflects:
“In general, I think that robots have certainly proven themselves in industry.
The next step is to bring robots into the private sector, and into people’s homes.
You’re seeing it already with all the robotic pets on the market. In Japan, there is a
movement called the Humanoid Project, which is concentrating on developing robots
for the aging Japanese population as personal service robots. I think that we
will begin to see this more and more as the technology becomes more advanced
and more affordable.”
Robots in the home? Horrors! That could be the response of a vocal minority—the
same minority that abhors cell phones and turns its collective nose up at
answering machines. Bill Nye isn’t concerned. “There will always be Luddites
who don’t want to see technology evolve. The problem with that philosophy is
that there’s no way to draw a line. All those people—to a one—happily use lights
and electricity, which makes their arguments very arbitrary. Trying to stop moving
forward is just not a successful strategy; it’s against human nature. It’s human
nature to innovate. Those that don’t become food.”
But perhaps no one summarizes the future better than Biohazard’s Carlo
Bertocchini: “My guess is that in 30 years we will have robotic servants that are
just as intelligent as humans. I hope they forgive us for bashing the hell out of their
progenitors.”