Bill Gates is excited. The robot$ are coming.

And as I look at the trends that are now starting to converge, I can envision a future in which robotic devices will become a nearly ubiquitous part of our day-to-day lives. I believe that technologies such as distributed computing, voice and visual recognition, and wireless broadband connectivity will open the door to a new generation of autonomous devices that enable computers to perform tasks in the physical world on our behalf. We may be on the verge of a new era, when the PC will get up off the desktop and allow us to see, hear, touch and manipulate objects in places where we are not physically present.

That all sounds pretty nice. But many of my students (and others) worry about a future race of autonomous self-replicating robots who want to take over the world. That's not going to happen. A more realistic scenario has Bill Gates and Microsoft taking over the world, which should worry us all. Let's hope the autonomous self-replicating Apple robots can kick some butt.

What will the Microsoft robots really be like? Would they be evil? A threat to all humankind?

Gate's Laws of Robotics*

1) A robot may not use a non-Microsoft product or through inaction, allow a human being to use a non-Microsoft product.

2) A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

A Robot in Every Home -- The leader of the PC revolution predicts that the next hot field will be robotics

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