In 2005 the robotics industry pushed forward into the future with huge strides as we saw the first fully autonomous car drive 210 miles through the desert in the DARPA Grand Challenge. We also saw iRobot zoom ahead as its stock soared in Wall Street with its IPO. The Tokyo Robotics show impressed the world over with android type robots, which could do nearly any task at home and walk upright, just like you and I. And we watched NASAs Mars Rover exceed expectations and warranties on another planet. Wow, surely this was the greatest year in World Robotics History, but many researchers and industry analysts say this is merely a foreshadowing of things to come in the future. In the future we will see so many new ideas, innovations and designs for robotic devices. One device concept we will see is Spherical Bouncing Robots, which use a combination of internal motion parts and haptics to allow them to bounce or roll along without any external parts which might be subject to getting caught on things or corroding in the sulfuric chemicals on the surface of a planet. There are many advantages to spherical robotics over some of the present designs and believe it or not they can even be designed to sit on an incline without rolling down the hill. Think on this in 2006. |
