Just watched the first episode of Pittsburgh Genius, short chronicles of local innovators. I'm guessing from the schedule that most will be university-based scientists. PCTV will be airing the show, but there's also a quicktime version on the web.
In the first episode Dan Handley interviews and reports on the work of Dr. Howie Choset, a CMU robotics professor. Choset seems humble and circumspect, which seems fairly Pittsburgh.
The one time Choset boasts is when he describes Pittsburgh as a robotics capital. Choset believes this because the number of papers coming out of Pittsburgh equals the amount coming from Japan. I'm not sure of that definition. Scientific, verifiable, refereed papers are great, but where are the robots? Not just for the Robocons either. I want to see robot slugs cleaing out my bathtub, robot spider/sensors walking around Frick Park, and wheeled news kiosks guiding old people across downtown streets. I want to see quasi have a regular stand-up night club act.
Then again, it's probably best that more sober types like Choset are leading the robotics revolution.
Technorati Tags: Pittsburgh, robots
Posted by mastr at July 8, 2006 11:12 AM