document updated 16 years ago, on Nov 10, 2007
In 2007, it started becoming clear that robots will having a growing impact on real-world
activities -- most especially military ones, but that could be quickly followed by civilian ones.
- the DARPA Urban Challenge, which involved totally autonomous robots driving in four-lane traffic, had SIX robots finish. That's a stunning turnaround, compared to three years before when none of the teams were able to complete a noticably simpler course. Most obviously, they'll be used in counterinsurgency, to minimize the IED vs. supply route problem.
- along the same lines on the battlefield, Big Dog is very impressive (and kind of scary)
- the XRay underwater glider is very interesting... it's meant to be a near-silent littoral patrol, putting a lower bound on the speed that near-silent enemy subs can go, effectively putting a lower bound on how quiet they can be. Even before XRay, civilian versions were collecting data across the ocean in increasing numbers.
- on the low end of the market, increasing CPU power and design ingenuity have provided for relatively simple designs that can do a whole lot