Cosmic Appetite

It’s National Robotics Week!

http://www.nationalroboticsweek.org/

I have to admit, I love robots. I grew up reading all kinds of science fiction and it was unavoidable. I remember reading all of the I, Robot stories by Isaac Asimov and being completely inundated by robots in movies. Remember Johnny 5 from Short Circuit? What about Robocop, The Terminator, Rosie the Maid, the Tin Man, Transformers, and of course the Cylons, The Matrix machine intelligences and Data from Star Trek. My favorite robot of all though is Marvin, the paranoid android from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Robots have filled my imagination for my entire life.
So this has all led to me owning two programmable robots and they are loads of fun! One of them is actually built by a company started by my college roommate from MIT. It is a great way to learn about electronics, be creative, and work with something that actually interacts with the real world. It is fun to interface new sensors, program new behaviors and watch them evolve in front of you. I can only imagine what kind of impact this would have had on me as a child. Electronics have become so miniaturized and cost effective that every kid should be exposed to these amazing little devices.
As long as they don’t grow up to build a robot that takes over the world.

Too late.

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