That’s what one of Blake Hannaford’s grad students told him recently after encountering some challenges in the lab. A robotics professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, Hannaford knew exactly what he meant.

 

“I’m never going to rule stuff out,” Hannaford, whose work focuses primarily on robotic surgery, said of potential advances. “But if you look back on science fiction from the ’50s and ’60s and compare it to today, it really missed the mark.”

 

In fact, you could argue, pop culture in general has ruined robots. Or at least most people’s concept of what robots actually are. According to movies and television, they’re bickering Star Wars chums R2-D2 and C3PO. They’re Star Trek’s superhuman Data and Futurama’s boozy Bender. And, of course, they’re Arnold Schwarzeneggar’s murderous-turned-virtuous cyborg in the Terminator flicks. That dude’s the biggest robo-cliché of all. Or maybe it’s RoboCop. Tough call.

 

future of robots and robotics

Bickering droid buddies R2-D2 and C3PO of Star Wars fame are two of the most famous sci-fi robots. | Photo: Shutterstock

It may not surprise you in the least to learn that robots are actually none of those. Most of them look nothing like humans and all of them — even the more dazzling models — are pretty rudimentary in their abilities. (Sometimes, too, they’re purposely ridiculous — like the “crappy” contraptions of Simone Giertz.)

 

That’s not to imply a dearth of progress. At companies and universities around the world, engineers and computer scientists are devising ways to make robots more perceptive and dextrous. More human-like in cognitive ability and, in some cases, appearance. In warehouses and factories, at fast food joints and clothing retailers, they’re already working alongside humans. This one, in Germany, can pick like a champ. They’re even starting to perform functions that have typically been the domain of humans, such as making coffee, caring for the elderly and, crucially, ferrying toilet paper. One Redwood City, California-based startup just got $32 million in Series A funding to further develop its robot waiters. And here’s a neat new schlepper-bot named Gita. They’re even proliferating down on the farm. But no matter which sector they serve, robots are far less advanced than many thought they’d be by now.

 

Decades ago, Hannaford said, “everyone was focused on energy, and extrapolating humans’ use of it. “[They thought], ‘A jet can fly to Europe, so in 2020 we’ll be able to go to Mars in a passenger vehicle.’”