U.S. News: The promises and perils of humanlike machines (4/23/01) The Age of Robots

We're close to making humanlike machines. It's time to reckon with the promises and perils

By Thomas Hayden

The millennium was still a half century off in the future when Isaac Asimov penned his sci-fi classic, I, Robot. So it must have seemed plausible to imagine a world populated by big, strong, intelligent humanoid robots. The mechanical replicas he conjured may have had shiny metal bodies and glowing red eyes, but they otherwise resembled people, thought like people, and–most important of all–devoted themselves to taking care of the human race.

Contrary to Asimov's genre-defining tale, humankind is still operating pretty much on its own. Indeed, of all the great science-fiction predictions to go bust at the end of the millennium–no time machines, no intergalactic space travel–surely the most galling is the absence of a single decent robotic maid. Or butler, take your pick. Oh sure, the new Robomower will trim your lawn while you recline in the hammock, and the Dyson DC06 robotic vacuum cleaner will soon be available to suck the lint from your carpets. But if you want something from the fridge, you're still going to have to fetch it yourself.

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