Popular to contrary belief, robots aren't exclusive to 50's B-Movies and toy boxes. What you are about to see and read about are ten of the most advanced and unbelievable robots in production today. Ranging from humanoid - capable of a broad range of tasks that can prove difficult for even the best of humans - to prosthetics and even giant mechs resembling those featured in anime and computer games such as Titanfall. The word robot was coined by Czech playwright, Karel Capek for his 1920 play Rossum's Universal Robots and ever since he did, we have shared a wonderful romance with them. As an undeniable star of the sci-fi genre in all mediums, our fascination has never faltered and with the success of Robocop this year and the upcoming Edge of Tomorrow and Transformers 4, they're as trendy as ever. But, enough of the fictional ones. Believe it or not, the reality of robots has been realised steadily over hundreds of years. Plans drawn up by Leonardo da Vinci in the late 15th century were discovered in the 1950's, detailing a design for a mechanical knight that would move its hands, head and jaw. There's no evidence to suggest that the knight was ever built, but these drawings provide us with the early building blocks of the robot movement. The first humanoid robot controlled by remote (and unbelievably, by voice) came along in the 1920's and then the first electronic autonomous robot with a complex system in the 40's. Then through the 50's, 60's and 70's came the evolution of the industrial robot for use in factories; lifting and sorting materials. As you can imagine, the moral implications of introducing robots into society is rich with controversy, as although robots have become vital tools for mankind, people are losing jobs and that sad fact is only going to get even more so as technology advances. There's also the theory - penned as "the singularity" by Vernor Vinge - that humans may experience a touch of bother when robots become more intelligent than them. It has been predicted that the first robot brain will exist by 2019, and that notion will become less mind-boggling once you're introduced to these ten robots, among mankind's greatest achievements in robotics to date.
KJ Lewis is 35 years old, was able to rear three small children into three slightly bigger children and has a relatively untested and unfounded passion for writing.
You can find him at Twitter: @onefistintheair or Facebook: KJ Lewis
