Robots

Robots:

Though they may seem the stuff of science fiction, robots are actually quite vital to our everyday lives. The more romantic idea people have of robots is that of humanoids and/or androids. However, that is far from the reality of robotics today. The field of robotics spans a spectrum of uses and features. One the one hand you have something like Boston Dynamics that is responsible for petman and cheetah. And on the other hand you have robots that repeat mundane, repetitive tasks over and over. Like the robot invented by MIT students whose sole job is to zip zippers. 

But the most widely used application of robots is actually the manufacturing industry. Factories are more and more employing robots to assist them in simple repetitive tasks. This eliminates human error and improves efficiency. With so much research being done in AI, and robotics in general, we will probably have robot helpers aiding in minor chores throughout our day pretty soon. If robots were to disappear, costs of production, and by extension, goods, would go up. As would quantity as production speed would be greatly affected. 

Although having a robot butler is a dream for many, the development of humanoid robots has been rather slow. This is because such a robot is a very large and complex project. Even when we look at petman, we see that it only performs one function: walking. Researchers have not even been able to successfully create a robot that mimics even a part of our bodies. You can think back to high school Biology to see why it seems to be so difficult. Still, robots have become an essential part of our everyday lives. Although they are thought to be autonomous artificially intelligent 'life forms', their use is more like that of an indispensable tool. Something like a hammer. Plain, boring, and doesn't do much, but no toolkit would be complete without one. 

Petman:

Cheetah:

Zipper Bot: 

And.....

Nightmares:

Personal Computers

The development of personal computers like laptops or tablets is playing a crucial role of our current lives. Devices like iPad, Kindle, Macbook Air, and ultrabooks have increased our accessibility to the web. Since mobile devices such as smartphones can not fully run a productive office softwares, the demand for personal computers with longer battery life and lighter weight have been dramatically increased. The role of consumers is very important to understand the infrastructure under the technology. In this case, people who want mobility and productivity are the one who is underneath the development of personal computers.

The Internet

     The internet is a technology and modern marvel which many of us have begun to take for granted nowadays. It connects most everything we use, from our phones and computers to our watches and cars, the internet is everywhere. The internet allows us to talk to people all over the world, have debates, learn from one another, play games, find answers to our questions, shop, sell, create, and much more. When you take a moment to look upon this technology and the vast multitude of opportunities it provides us with, you begin to notice that most people either take the internet for granted, or they forget to use it to their advantage. Most of the questions people have in their everyday life can be answered through the use of this incredible technology, but so few people ever use it to answer those questions they have. The internet exists through all the computers in the world (in a sense). By connecting these computers  and their servers (along with the information those devices hold) in one general place we create the internet we know and love today.

Cars

Cars serve an important role in transportation aiding in advancements of socialization for the population. They allow people to travel great distances in relatively short amounts of time. Giving way for advancements in interactions between people because they are now able to travel to a meeting place to see another individual in a much shorter amount of time meaning they can spend a longer period of time at that location. The infrastructure associated with cars include the manufacturers and retailers, as well as the roads used to drive upon.

Let's go Tesseract!

Let's Go!!
2015.02.19 5:53 PM

Cell Phone

Cell phones have become one of the most interactive forms of technology. Fully fulfilling the needs of communication as well as gaming and web surfing. They extend the realm of social interaction beyond that of one's inner circle of acquaintances, allowing individuals to communicate with others at nearly any distance. The infrastructure behind cell phones includes the service provider who both produces the phones and maintains hardware associated with there use.