This funny little robot sort of blew my mind. It has an internal gyroscope that keeps it upright balanced on 2 wheels! The control feedback was very smooth, no back and forth oscillation was visible that kept it upright.
Maybe I have read too much science fiction, but I could see a groups of these driving around on the street, each as large as a small person, waiting at stoplights, carrying out their programmed delivery schedules, not getting mad or flipping people off when getting in accidents, just righting themselves and carrying on, following Asimov's 3 rules of robotics...
The future is today!
From http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics:
"Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics are introduced in his 1942 short story "Runaround", although they were foreshadowed in a few earlier stories:
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws."
Wow, OK - so those are the exact same rules indicated in the movie iRobot, I believe. Are you telling me that Isaac Asimov is smarter than some Hollywood writer? LOL. That's very cool though.
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