[Advanced] The New Face of Robots (2)

-Military use. Within 10 years, squadrons of unmanned planes will swarm enemy sites like killer bees, launching missiles and avoiding detection with sophisticated jamming devices. Self-programmed submarines will replace dolphins to detect and disarm mines. Crablike robots will crawl into buildings to sniff out chemical stashes. The transition to mechanized weaponry is key to the military's transformation from heavy ground forces to smaller human units fortified with robotic weapons.

-Search-and-rescue missions. The palm-size winged schematic sitting on a table at Carnegie Mellon's robotics lab is a "vampire bat" bot for above-the-fray surveillance of action scenes, and search and rescue. The 100-gram, foot-wide bot, is propelled from the ground by an internal spring. Once airborne, it glides with the wind and would be part of a "swarm" of bots that communicate with each other.

-Research. Liquid Robotics makes a surfboard-shape device for collecting data underwater, such as ocean depth, post-hurricane damage, fish density populations, weather forecasting and shark surveillance. The service would be sold to researchers. Wave Glider is its first marine robot. "It operates in environments where you don't want to send people," Vass said. "Our bots go out in 35-foot waves and 100-mph winds."

(16:19) Becoming reality

Robots are becoming de rigueur as populations age and working couples look for help while at work. Toyota and Honda (maker of the Asimo) are building robo-servants to help Japan's aging population. Experts expect dog-walking bots and driverless cars in the near future.

Probably not surprising, then, that people increasingly are more comfortable with walking, talking machines, said Eric Schweikardt, design director of Modular Robotics. He points to newfangled dishwashers and refrigerators as entry-level household robots powered by microprocessors.

"Robots will be bigger than the PC in 10 to 20 years, but it will be linked to your computing device either in the cloud or on your person," said Paul Berberian, CEO of Orbotix, which makes Sphero, a robot ball controlled by smartphones.

Like others in the industry, Berberian envisions affordable toy robots for the mass market first, followed by larger devices. "While specific-task home robots are cool, the big play will be entertainment," he said.

"Tons of technology starts out in the game/entertainment sector and then migrates to performing common tasks."


Vocabulary
squadron n. [count]
/ˈskwɑ:drən/
a military unit consisting of soldiers, ships, or aircraft

swarm v.
1. to be surrounded or filled with a large group of insects, people, etc., moving together
2. to surround (something or someone) with a large group
swarm n.
a very large number of insects moving together

missile n. an object that is thrown, shot, or launched as a weapon

jam v.
to make (a radio signal or broadcast) impossible to understand by sending out signals or messages that weaken or block it
* jam a radio broadcast

to sniff v.
to discover or find (something) by smelling — usually + out

mechanize v.
to change (a process or an activity) so that it is done with machines instead of by people or animals

above the fray not directly involved in an angry or difficult struggle or disagreement

surveillance n.[noncount]
the act of carefully watching someone or something especially in order to prevent or detect a crime

de rigueur adj. common, everyday, normal
/dəˌriˈgɚ/
necessary if you want to be fashionable, popular, socially acceptable, etc.
- The phrase de rigueur comes from French.

newfangled adj. [always used before a noun]
recently invented or developed and hard to understand

envisions v.
to think of (something that you believe might exist or happen in the future) ;
to picture (something) in your mind


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