Present-day robotics hasn't turned out quite as the futurists intended: for better or worse, we don't live in a world of robot butlers and Skynet. This ten-minute history of robotics does a nice job of explaining why.
Fundamentally, of course, the truth is that robotics as a discipline is just... quite difficult. Some headaches that were initially understood decades ago still persist, unsolved, while others have only presented themselves over the fullness of time. Though that shouldn't stop us celebrating the progress we have made, from robot vacuum cleaners to the first self-driving cars. Indeed, if anything, this video will make you celebrate them all the more. [Sci Show]
Advertisement