Letter from the Editor; Your Future with Robots; Special Editions; by Mariette DiChristina; 1 Page(s)

"They have been part of our collective imagination almost since we began to set down words. Mechanical beings sparked to life in the myths of ancient Greece, the Middle East, China and the Nordic countries. Today we call them robotsfrom robota, meaning drudgery or hard work in Czech and related languages. As that name implies, so far these useful machines have been limited in their applications to the sorts of repetitive tasks best suited to automatonstirelessly turning screw after screw in a factory assembly line, for instance.

"Now robots are beginning to enter our lives in much more personal ways. Already robo-vacuums such as the Roomba are easing housework, and digital pets such as Tamagotchis and the e-dog Aibo are serving as electronic companions. Experts envision far more in the short years ahead. Bill Gates writes in his feature article A Robot in Every Home, starting on page 4, of nothing less than a transformation of domestic life. It is only a matter of time. After all, he adds: Some of the worlds best minds are trying to solve the toughest problems of robotics, such as visual recognition, navigation and machine learning. Two million personal robots were in use worldwide in 2004, and seven million more will be installed by this year, according to one estimate.