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Article: Robots - the next generation.
- Article from:
- Popular Science
- Article date:
- February 1, 1985
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1985 Bonnier Corporation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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I met Dewey and the Imp on a cold afternoon in Pittsburgh on the campus of Carnegie-Mellon University. They weren't much alike. Dewey stood about six feet tall, rolled on six rubber wheels, and at the moment had its innards scattered around the room. The Imp--Intelligent Mobile Platform--was a disembodied representation on a cathode-ray screen, reaching out with simulated sonar to find pathways through an imaginary apartment.
Beyond their differences, Dewey and the Imp have an important feature in common. They are previews of coming attractions in the world of robotics--ancestors of robots that will see, feel, roam, and even think in ways impossible for today's ...