This article was taken from the WIRED World in 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
The robots are coming. In 2015, the world will belong to intelligent machines -- high performing and autonomous. So far, robots have only touched our lives as science-fictional characters. In the real world, they've been disappointing both in performance and fearsomeness -- machines that sing and dance and end up on children's Christmas wish-lists. Gimmicks.
We all expected robots to be everywhere by now -- and in some senses they are. In manufacturing it is robots, rather than humans, that put together machines of increasing complexity. Robot arms are more precise than human arms -- that's why, at Dyson, we use 50 robots to delicately assemble each one of our digital motors.
The challenge is untethering these robots and allowing them to roam free. The factory floor is very different to the ever changing environments that exist beyond. I should know. I've spent 16 years developing a robotic vacuum cleaner capable of actually cleaning (current robot sweepers are the equivalent of a staggering housemaid flicking around dust and bouncing about the room -- fun to look at, but not much good at their job). Automating everyday tasks is complex, costly and requires technological leaps rather than small improvements.
Lives will change beyond cleaning. Winding their way around Milton Keynes and Palo Alto, robotic cars will hail a driverless future. Drones will revolutionise industry. The implications will be broader than quicker pizza delivery; remote disaster-struck areas will get medicine and vital supplies. Already in Kenya, drones keep a watchful eye out for poachers after rhino horns.
Nature and robotics will go hand in hand. Researchers at Sheffield University are mimicking the GPS system of the honeybee, and a Harvard team is creating thousands of tiny robots capable of acting collectively. Hive robots will tackle everything from environmental clean-ups to disaster response.
It's clever, but real leaps will come once these mechanical and robotic systems are given vision. Seeing and understanding are two different things. Knowing the difference between a Coke can and slipper isn't easy for a robot. We need machines that can see the world the same way we do.
Intelligent machines won't just be the result of robotic technology. They will be underpinned by advances in batteries, material science and motor research. Graphene and carbon nanotubes will creep into more products. Longer-lasting batteries will be married with smaller, faster digital motors. The plug and cord are headed for extinction.
All of this won't just change the world in 2015 -- it will change the world years from now. A generation of engineers is emerging who are inspired by new technology and the possibility of invention. Forget The X Factor -- 2015 will be the year robotic X-projects take the limelight. A good job, too. After all, although jobs will be lost to this robotic revolution, millions more will be created in research and development roles. We'll need engineers by the bucketload.
James Dyson is the founder of Dyson. He wrote about transportation in The WIRED World in 2014.
Read more from The WIRED World in 2015 here.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
