Robotics is moving faster than even I imagined

A while back, I was talking to the pupils I teach about the future - especially about how knowledge based professions will be at risk from AI....we discussed the problem of analytic and knowledge based professions being at risk from AI, and we discussed the scenario where a few manual professions were all that remained, as physical robots that could do what humans can do would presumably take longer to develop.

I appear to have been totally wrong - within a decade, if not sooner, we will see robots that are effectively androids, in terms of their ability to mimic human movement and dexterity. The physical 'android hardware' will be in place long before we have developed computers that can copy human brain processing - but once we do, humanoid human-like androids will walk among us.

The first human anatomy based prototype was called ECCE, and the next generation of robot is already on the way - mimicking human physiology.

The first functional humanoid prototype is called Roboy and he will be up and running in a few months time. He will be small, and has a cute face, so as to be, presumably, non-threatening. I suppose even smaller models could be made, which could be high end toys for kids.

With the accelerating exponential growth in processing and computing power, it won't be long before we have a humanoid android that can fix the plumbing, harvest crops, and do other unpleasant manual work, like sweep the streets and clean lavatories, that so far has been able to avoid mechanisation. Such a robot may (once the software and computer hardware permits) even be able to take over most aspects of educational work, and the need for schools and classrooms and all that centralised educational infrastructure might simply vanish overnight.

I also suspect robots with this type of architecture - which we might as well call androids, as they are designed to be humanoid - will first find application in defence - for battlefield support, and, eventually, combat.

We may be heading to a world where most jobs in the traditional occupations of the post-industrial revolution world cease to exist, sooner than anyone can imagine. Remember those clunky first-generation robots in the movie AI? We have those already. We're now jumping right to the head of the queue, in terms of robot anatomy.

The world is rapidly heading for a paradigm shift, larger than the one we call the 'industrial revolution' and this is happening much faster than most people realise....and even those of us who are aware it is happening, are being overtaken by the rapidity of change.

For example, it appears that this year for the first time, android phones have enough processing power to run a full PC operating system, and Ubuntu ( Linux) has developed a 'desktop/laptop' operating system for installation on android devices. In a year or two, for most of us, there will be no functional, practical difference between a laptop and a phone. Apple and Microsoft will have to adapt their technologies - I suspect they have already designed the operating systems, in readiness for the hardware. If you don't stay ahead of the curve these days, you go under.