On the edge of a robot revolution

By Edward C. Baig
USA Today

Bill Gross wants to be the Bill Gates of robotics.

Gross, a legendary tech entrepreneur, recently unveiled his plan for a common programming language for robots — a Windows-type software platform from which other companies can create machines that think while cleaning, mowing the lawn or keeping the family safe.

"Robots will take many different forms and be in every home and business," said Gross. The CEO of Idealab in Pasadena, Calif., announced his new brain child, Evolution Robotics, at the prestigious Demo high-tech gathering early this month in Phoenix.

Indeed, Gross is on the verge of what could be a robotic revolution:

• Recently, Honda's walking, 4-foot, 95-pound, humanoid robot ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility) rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

  But ASIMO has ambitions beyond Wall Street: The robot, which already has made a splash in Japan, could potentially help a blind person navigate busy streets, or bring medicine to the sick.

• Sony's first robotic Aibo pooch was born in 1999 and fetched a purebred $2,500 price. Nonetheless, Sony sold more than 100,000 pups; Aibo's starting price has fallen to $850 and is probably headed lower. Among Aibo's tricks: tail-wagging, responding favorably to a pat on the head or praise, plus speaking a limited vocabulary and the ability to read the contents of Web sites.

• An Israeli outfit called Friendly Robotics sells Robomower, a $500 rechargeable lawn-mowing robot. You set up a perimeter wire around the base of the lawn, and Robomower, which looks like a small, flattened VW bug, snips in a preprogrammed pattern, changing direction to cover the entire area and avoid trees and shrubs.

Gross said personal robots based on his software, but built by others, could show up before year's end.

"The adoption of that kind of a software standard would make it less expensive for other manufacturers to develop robots ... and make it easier to do plug-and-play substitutions like we do with personal computers," said George Bekey, a robotics expert at the University of Southern California and a member of Evolution's advisory board.

And don't be surprised if that other Bill G. takes notice: Would anyone be shocked by the arrival of a creature called the Win-Robot?