Moravec takes a highly technical look at the past, present and future of robotics. He describes how robots work in enough detail to satisfy the most technically oriented layperson. He explains computing power and speed, and their use in robotic perception. Humans recognize patterns, such as other human faces, much better than computers. Humans have developed such skills over many generations in response to survival needs.
Children learn to recognize others very quickly.
Teaching computers this skill has taken years. Numerical calculations, for example. Computers are amazingly adept at learning these complex thinking skills. Moravec reports that we can expect the first generation of universal robots to arrive in 2010. These robots will have the processing power of a lizard and have basic perception, mobility and manipulation skills.