In the Loop: August 28, 2007 Archive

Fall in love with robots all over again!

Posted at 2:30 PM on August 28, 2007 by Sanden Totten

(Pic by genewolf)

From time to time I like to sit around and think about robots.

Sometimes I read about robots. Often it's sci-fi stories about robots. Sometimes it's comics. Occasionally I scan the press for coverage of "real" robots. This is the least exciting of the three because, let's face it, real life robots have yet to amount to much. Making a robot is difficult, and getting them to do anything useful is incredibly complicated. Getting them to do the kinds of things they do in my favorite stories seems nearly impossible.

I've been thinking about putting together another robot-themed blog post for a while, but the only story I had come across was about a robot lawnmower. Yeah . . . not exactly the stuff dreams are made of.

And then comes the Minnesota State Fair.

If you want to be happy right now . . . not in a few months, not after you send me three easy installments of $19.99 (although do that, seriously) . . . but right now .

Check this video out: robots fighting at the State Fair.

Sure it's been done before. Sure, these are rudimentary machines. I bet the lawnmower bot is more complicated than both these bots combined. But does the lawnmower bot *shoot flames*?

Yes. I said flames.

When it comes down to it, a robot doesn't have to be complicated to be exciting. The fact that they are made of metal, that robots don't feel pain, that some of them can shoot fire.

These are the things that make robots awesome. I forget that it's the simple things that made me love robots in the first place.