Around the globe, quasi-autonomous devices have become increasingly common on factory floors, hospital corridors and farm fields. Scores more are in development or for sale.
Physicians can use robotics to aid in ultraprecise bone and brain surgery.
The Pentagon is researching a dozen ways to put robots in the battlefield, from self-driving vehicles to swarms of tiny surveillance robots that would pool their information to create a comprehensive, multiangle view of combat zones. And this fall, the first interactive robot baby dolls will hit toy stores. But that's all going to change in the next 10 years. In fact, Moravec and several other experts are convinced that exponential growth in computing power may soon put robotic systems within reach of the kind of brainpower that could ultimately put humanity out of business. Whether sheer computer power can translate into genuinely human capability, however, is a hotly debated matter.