http://robots.net/person/Amccutchen/ robots.net blog for Amccutchen en-us mod_virgule Sun, 19 May 2013 04:37:54 GMT Tue, 26 Oct 2004 22:53:22 GMT http://robots.net/person/Amccutchen/diary.html?start=0 http://robots.net/person/Amccutchen/diary.html?start=0 Here is an observation: I was around during the early days of the "personal computer" and I mean Altair. Those were the days of the Heathkit builders. My feeling is that the early Cambrian period of PC's was driven by the desire to have something that was not available, the computer at work that was too expensive to have at home. I built a kit, SWTP. It didn't do much but I really enjoyed it. Then, as microprocessors became more powerful and less expensive, more features and speed became available. Then there was WOZ and Steve. I understand that WOZ build the Apple using the 6502 because he couldn't afford the Intel brand. But they they made it interesting and marketable. This may not be a new idea but, I believe there are similarities today in robotics to the environment that brought out the PC. The microcontrollers are becoming more powerful, and cheaper and there sure a lot of Generous Energetic Evolutionary Knowledge Seekers around. (Since that is such a large phrase, maybe I will find a short acronym for it.) At any rate, I can FEEL it. It is happening. You probably heard the latest market predictions, forecasting a seven fold increase in growth. The predictions are for a $ 50 billion/yr market in 2010 but it could be way bigger. So, do you want to guess what the Next Big Thing will be. We are looking at it.