5 agencies design robots of the future
Could your next doctor be made of metal?
Five government agencies are teaming up on a major robotics program to develop medical, military, scientific, agricultural and bomb disposal robots. The Robotics Technology Development and Deployment (RTD2) program is a joint effort by the National Institutes of Health, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Science Foundation, and the Agriculture and Homeland Security departments. In its announcement
, the program noted that improvements in core technologies such as microprocessors, sensors and algorithms have poised robotics technology on the verge of explosive growth.
As a technology, robotics can potentially meet a range of national needs, such as defense, homeland security, medicine, health care, space exploration, transportation, manufacturing and agriculture. The announcement stated that the technology may be very beneficial to the lives of the elderly and disabled. One of the more intriguing areas of research is the possibility of developing “co-robots” — next-generation robotic systems that can work safely in close proximity to or in physical contact with humans to help carry out “mundane, dangerous, precise or expensive tasks,” the announcement states.