Hawaii is in prime position to join robotics revolution

By Jay Fidell

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Sep 04, 2012

~~<p>The word "robot" used to evoke the 1920 play "R.U.R.," "Rossum's Universal Robots," by Karel Capek (from the Slavic "robota" for serf labor) and Isaac Asimov's 1942 "Three Laws of Robotics" (coining the term "robotics"). Today it evokes toys and high school competitions. Really, it's time to commercialize what our kids have learned.</p>
<p>Personal robotics is emerging as the next big disruptive technology. This was clear in a recent article by Thomas Friedman in the detailing a sneak peek he had at Rethink Robotics, in Boston's Innovation District near Logan International Airport. It's the brainchild of Rodney Brooks, a leader in artificial intelligence and robotics at Stanford and MIT and co-founder of iRobot, inventors of the Roomba vacuum-cleaning robot.</p>
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The word "robot" used to evoke the 1920 play "R.U.R.," "Rossum's Universal Robots," by Karel Capek (from the Slavic "robota" for serf labor) and Isaac Asimov's 1942 "Three Laws of Robotics" (coining the term "robotics"). Today it evokes toys and high school competitions. Really, it's time to commercialize what our kids have learned.

Personal robotics is emerging as the next big disruptive technology. This was clear in a recent article by Thomas Friedman in the detailing a sneak peek he had at Rethink Robotics, in Boston's Innovation District near Logan International Airport. It's the brainchild of Rodney Brooks, a leader in artificial intelligence and robotics at Stanford and MIT and co-founder of iRobot, inventors of the Roomba vacuum-cleaning robot. Login for more...