When I was growing up, I remember seeing the Heathkit HERO Robots
… kit robots that you could buy from the premiere electronic kit
company.  They were too cool, and of course made me and friends
think about owning our own R2D2 robot.

Yesterday, I found out about the RoboBusiness Conference & Exposition
that was held this week in Cambridge, MA.  I am really impressed
at the conference, and the speakers, and I am sorry that I was unable
to attend.  I would have really liked to hear about the progress
that has been made in the areas of robotics and telepresense.  It
is really this second topic – telepresence – that really interests
me.  This is where robots are being used to extend the “senses” of
a human operator.  In military applications, these robots can
enter a building or cave and allow the human operator to look around
without being in danger.  In personal applications you could
remotely interact with one of your grandparents, and look around their
house for them and to keep an eye on them.

If you visit the website you will see a lot of companies working in
this space … and some very innovative solutions.  One of the
interesting robots is White Box Robotics and their new Model 914 PC-BOT … the next generation of hobbyist/experimental robots.  Is is available for purchase now, or at least to reserve one, and it is priced very aggressively.

There are many other examples, and again I really am impressed by the
list of speakers.  I’ll have to talk Doug Kaye into getting the
conference proceedings on ITConversations!