More robo-news, via KurzweilAI.net:
One of the world's lightest and smallest robot helicopters has been unveiled at a Tokyo exhibition by the Seiko Epson company.
The designers say the 70-mm-tall device could be used as a "flying camera" to enter earthquake-shattered buildings.
Check this thing out. Once again (altogether, everybody): cool.
There's a little drawback with these guys, however:
The prototype four-legged robot weighs 10 grammes and although it flies by remote control, it has to be linked to an external power source via a cable.
Seiko Epson manger Junji Ajioka said he was looking for another firm to help develop a super-lightweight battery.
"That's why we showed this robot at the exhibition. We want to attract battery makers who can manufacture a very light battery for us," he said, adding the company had yet to set a date for marketing the robot.
They need to fix their little power problem and get these things down to about half their current size. In a few years, every wedding reception you go to will have six or seven of these little hummers buzzing around and recording all the action. A few years after that, they'll be about a tenth of the size shown and some folks will have a few of them in orbit around them at all times, recording every second of their lives from multiple angles. A few years beyond that, they'll be even smaller, and we'll all have a few of them with us everywhere we go, all the time (whether we want them or not.)
From there, things might get a little more interesting. Some folks are likely to carry forward quaint ideas about "privacy" and so forth and will decide that they don't want somebody else's little cameras tracking them all the time. The best solution to that problem would be a small fleet of these copters armed with tiny laser cannons — not big enough to hurt people, just powerful enough to take out similar copters. Then we'll see the development of smaller and more crafty robo-cameras followed by smaller and more lethal robo gunships. The ensuing arms race will greatly enhance the functionality of these robots, adding tactical and intelligence-gathering capabilities. The decrease in size will lead to an increase in numbers. A few orders of magnitude smaller and more capable, and we'll be looking at something similar to Josh Hall's utility fog.
And then the fun will really begin.
Anyhow, read the whole article, and be sure to scroll down and check out the picture of the robo-fish.
Posted by Phil at November 20, 2003 08:20 AM | TrackBackA stupid question, maybe, but have you ever read Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age? There's a technology very similar to what you describe above in that book.
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