Trickle Down Robotics

SHERPA1
Originally uploaded by TigerTigerTiger.

The latest edition of TEQ Online the ezine of the Pittsburgh Technology Council contains a profile of Jorgen Pederson founder of resquared (Robotics Engineering Excellence) whose SHERPA robot is pictured here. Pederson is quoted in the article:

"'We don't yet understand exactly how the human brain works or how we seem to do things with such ease,' he says. 'Things that are easy for us are very complicated for a robot.' Pedersen gives the example of simple object recognition, a task that can require a monumental feat of programming in robotics. 'Most of the challenges for the robotics industry still lie there, in being able to better understand the cognitive processes of the human being,' Pedersen says, adding that better, faster, cheaper, smaller technical inventions can only take robotic innovations so far.

With billions of dollars going into new efforts to put unmanned vehicles in the military, Pedersen feels a focus on defense applications is one of the best ways to achieve a 'trickle down effect' for robotics applications. 'The Internet evolved similarly, with a kick- start in the military,' he explains. 'As the technology matures, it gets passed down into the commercial sector.'"