Happy Birthday, Mr. Roboto!

The famous author and playwright, Karel Čapek, was born on January 9, 1890. A Czech, he has been compared to Aldous Huxley and George Orwell, as one of the originators of "social" science fiction - stories dealing with the social and political effects of advanced science, rather than the rocket-ship adventures so common during the early twentieth century.

Čapek first used the term "robot" in his stage play RUR - Rossum's Universal Robots, and the name stuck. Soon, robots were everywhere - wandering on the moon, flying around in spaceships, thumping Flash Gordon on the head and carrying off hundreds of pretty girls. Beeping, lurching, their red eyes glowing, they became part of the fabric of the future.

At least, in the movies. In reality, robots had a bit farther to go to be taken seriously.

The difficulties in building a machine capable of autonomous motion, direction, and decision-making are extraordinary. It requires extreme advancements in power generation; in sensors and object detection; in motion control and positioning. It requires a fast central computer capable of integrating all these data streams into meaningful decisions in real-time.

Complex technologies have a maturation cycle that is often measured in decades. Advancements in one field may lead to completely new capabilities in others. Aviation is a fine example - the jet plane could not have been developed without major advances in metallurgy - until the turbine blades could be made strong enough, the jet engine would never fly. All the pieces of the puzzle must be ready.

After decades of slow advancement, all the technologies necessary for success begin to reach a sort of "critical mass", where the new technology moves out of the lab or garage and actually gets used. Entire societies and cultures are remade, seemingly overnight.

Robotics is at such a cusp, where advances across the board are starting to mature - small, powerful hybrid energy sources are now available. Advanced pattern and object detecting optics are being developed for the new digital cameras (where even cheap models now have facial recognition). GPS and laser-based inertial positioning units are smaller and more reliable than ever. Computer chips double in speed and halve in price every few years or so. Materials are lighter and stronger than ever.

Robotics today are at the same point that the automobile was in 1910, jet travel was in 1960, and computers were at in 1975 - ready to explode onto the world stage.

Prepare to bow down before your metal masters!