Welcome

Robots have been around for a long time, probably longer than most people realize!  

Some sources trace mechanical robots back over 2,000 years.  These early mechanical robots, often built to look like a person, were very simple by modern standards yet touch on a very human desire to create life in many ways.  It was not the advent of the transistor and integrated circuits that robots began to move from novelty into a serious field of research that yielded practical applications. 

In the last 50 years robots have proliferated in both number and design.  From factory assembly lines, children’s toys and Mars robots have not just made us more productive but expanded the boundaries of our knowledge of the universe.

As a child of the 80s, I couldn’t help but be fascinated by robots and credit a few pop-culture robotic icons (Johnny 5 from Short Circuit and Batteries NotIncluded to name a few) with first getting me started in programming.  I imagined what it would be like if advanced robots with emotions and social connections really existed.  It would take more than just circuits and hardware to imbue robots with the capacity to learn, problem solve and think; the real challenge would be software. 

The purpose of this blog is to explore areas of interest (mine and yours) related robotics and software engineering.  I hope to make this blog accessible to a wide range of readers, so look for a range of articles from basic programming and electronics to cutting edge topics such as artificial intelligence, robot swarms, communications and navigation. 

What other robotics related topics would you like to see discussed?