A child humanoid robot called iCub is helping Swiss scientists at EPFL's Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory study cognition, learning, and mobility.
Robots and automatic controllers are the contemporary "slaves" of humanity. These devices relieve people from the mechanical movements that sterilizing their minds (...so they have plenty of time to activate their brains by watching soap operas or take some "how not to think" lessons!!!). The car you drive, is moving because of robots and the bottle of the coke that you drink is made by such a device also. If we could manufacture devices with a tiny percentage of human intelligence, perhaps we could call ourselves "Little Gods". Many people talk about intelligent systems but the truth is that we are far from the "real" intelligent systems age. The basic fundamental problems in the control theory have been solved but what about intelligent controllers? Controllers that can take their own decisions depending on the case they are in to. This is one of the most significant challenges in the history of control. Devices that are able to think without the human direct effect. Devices-controllers that can produce new knowledge based on the existing one in which they have access to. Controllers that will act based on this knowledge which evolves with time.
But it is important to remember that the existing Control Theory is the base for these new controllers.
