The original robots who caught my attention had physical human characteristics, or at least a physically visible presence in three dimensions: C3PO and R2D2 form the perfect duo, one modeled to walk and talk like a bookish human, the other with metallic, baby-like cuteness and it’s own language.
Both were imagined, but still very tangible. And this imagery held staying power. This is how most of us still think about robots today. Follow the definition of robot and the following phrase surface, “a machine which resembles a human.” A phrase only followed by a description of the types of actions they actually undertake.
Most robots today aren’t in the places we’d think to look based on sci-fi stories or dictionary definitions. Most robots come in two types: they’re sidekicks for desktop and server activities at work, or robots that scour the internet to tag and index web content.
All-in-all robots are typically still digital. Put another way, digital robots have come of age much faster than their mechanical cousins.
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