Robots, Robots, Robots

I have seen the future, and it looks sort of human (sometimes), makes whirring sounds (often), and fascinates geeks and gadget lovers of all ages (always). I'm talking about the robots that were on display at RoboNexus, a robotics show that just ended in Santa Clara, California. (Full disclosure: PC World was one of a number of sponsors of the event.)

Hobbyist robots have been around for awhile, but they've appealed mostly to a small and serious band of tinkerers. That's still true for the most part, but RoboNexus seemed to be a crowded success, with lots of exhibitors and so many attendees that long lines formed at the registration kiosks. Among the conference's elements were a show floor with purveyors of robots and robot gear (from toys to military products), an area with competitive robot sporting events, and panel discussions. All the humans I ran into seemed to be having a very good time.

The atmosphere reminded me of the very early days of personal computers in the 1970s. Back then, computer fans tended to be folks who did their own soldering and wrote their own hexidecimal code, and it was an accomplishment when a PC did anything at all, let alone anything useful. But you sort of had the feeling that personal computers were on the cusp of something big.

I'm not quite willing to predict that robotics will be huge in the next couple of years, but after attending RoboNexus, I'm going to monitor the field more closely. (I'm even a robot owner myself--I just bought the $70 RoboSapien, a heckuva fun toy that's become a cult figure in gadget circles.)

Want to read more about robots? The next issue of our Digital World publication will have a feature on 'bots and the people behind them. Meanwhile, here are some photos (some of them not so crisp--my apologies) from the event.

The Segway-riding gent in this picture is not just any Segway-riding gent, but Dean Kamen, the robotics pioneer who invented the personal transportation device. I was told that he'd been at the event for two days and had never gotten off his Segway:



IRobot, the inventor of the Roomba vaccum cleaner, was a major exhibitor. Its products can do a lot more than sweep floors: Here's a 'bot that can do useful things like detect bombs--and which can walk up stairs:



Just about anywhere at the event where a robot was being demonstrated, a group of small boys (and, sometimes, small girls) quickly convened:



A surprising number of the robots at the show were constructed partially from Lego. Here are some Lego robots whose brains are powered by the 32-bit processing power of Nintendo's Gameboy:



This two-wheeled tall-boy robot can balance himself, which was pretty impressive when you saw it in person. I'm not sure why he was wearing a baseball cap: