Robotics and the Future

 

Are you wondering what's next for the US economy?  Thinking of moving with your family to a space colony on Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter?


Before you get hooked on space travel and colonization, you might want to consider something that I claim might happen much sooner:  Robotic home factories.


I can't guarantee that my idea in this brief, informal essay is right.  At the same time, consider this possibility, which, with the right political leadership, could come to pass in as little as 3 or 4 years:  Political leaders, thinking about the future of our economy, create a mandatory rule dictating that public high schools have to offer to teach their students at least one or two elective courses, in robotics and mechanical engineering.  These days, many high schools offer instruction in basic computer science, as well as "AP Computer Science classes," which cover college-level material in computer science.  As we've seen, many of those classes are becoming less relevant to the job market, as AI takes over some of these tasks.


But what I believe AI will not take over is robotics.  Yes, AI and plenty of other ideas and support systems will go into building robots, but robots in general will be designed, mostly anyway, and especially, operated and *owned*, by humans.


That means, given that if my vision comes to pass--and no, this isn't a politics essay--there might be millions of American students with the ability to build their own robots, and we might see an economy that will be transformed by *home automated factories*, which could produce a diversity of products, from chess sets to pencils to fun AI-powered laser-tag quadcopter systems and beyond.  Platforms like Etsy and eBay could be used to sell products of this nature...and someday, shipping costs will probably be reduced, by quadcopter delivery systems, which could themselves also be manufactured by home factories.


So before you get on your space suit and get ready to hop on a rocket ship to travel to Mars, make sure you have processed another less obvious likelihood:  The possibility of robotics education in schools and automated factories run by small business owners out of their own homes.


At the same time, maybe this isn't the last word on "things that could be predicted within the next 100 years."  It is rather likely to come true, at least I think so, but maybe you know something about something else that's likely to happen in a similar time frame.  The point is, appropriate investment in the United States' future is very beneficial and important, just as the US education system is.


Thanks for reading my informal essay.

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