Robots, or at least the idea of robotics has captivated
mankind ever since levers, pulleys and other simple machines were being
combined to make life easier for everyone. Robots are more accurately
automatons have dominated mythology and fiction even before working models were
ever built. Historical accounts of automatons go back to 10 century BC china in
the written accounts of Lie Yukou.However mythology often speak of mechanical
human like servants such as those built by Greek god Hephaestus or the infamous
Golem of Jewish origin. In fact you’ll be surprised to know the word robot
itself means “serf labor” in Czech. The more colloquial usage of the word
relates to “drudgery” or “hard work”. One of the first recorded designs of a
robot(as we think of today) was sketched by none other than Leonardo Da Vinci
in 1949. The sketches depict a mechanical knight capable of moving arms and
sitting up.
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| The GFE Robot Platform (Photo credit: Courtesy) |
Much later the industrial revolution gave rise to
assembly line robots that were to work for performing repetitive tasks. Today you
have semi- autonomous robots such as Honda’s Asimo (pictured alongside). The
pace at which robotics and artificial intelligence is progressing singularity may
not be that far ahead. When that happens let’s hope that the robots will take
Asimov’s three laws of robotics seriously and not massacre us.
