I recently returned from the USA, where I was lucky enough to see the space shuttle Endeavour launch on the 15th July at 6:03 ET. After Endeavour vanished into the clouds, I began thinking about the mind boggling technophuck that is, a shuttle launch. I find it absolutely incomprehensible how human’s (who once grunted all day long and wrote on cave walls) have created a machine that has a launch mass of 4.5 million pounds (or 2,041 metric tons), is propelled through the stratosphere by two rockets that provide 1,315 tons of thrust and then withstands a re-entry to earth at 1,650 degrees Celsius with people inside it! WTF?!
It made me think about Apollo 11 and the first time man (debatably) landed on the moon (which coincidentally, was 40 years ago this month) and the image that comes to my head when I do so – the picture of an Astronaut sticking a flag in the moon. I then began thinking about the advancements since 1969 and the advancements that are lined up for the future and instantly, a different image popped into my head and I felt obliged to write about it.
For those of you that are oblivious to technology and have been living under a typewriter since 1986, the little fella in this picture is ASIMO, or Advanced Step in Innovative MObility. This little Humanoid is one impressive little sod and the first model of him was released in 2000. He is made to resemble a small Astronaut with a backpack. He can climb stairs, run, recognise your face and call you by your name, move out the way if he thinks you are trying to pass him, wave back, understand instructions, distinguish between objects (e.g. a chair and a table) and the most cool of all, be controlled by you, using only your mind (i.e. tell him to do something in your brain without speaking or moving and he will do it - a headset is of course required). He’s even conducted a ruddy orchestra!
I could ramble on forever about this little dude's uber capabilities but instead, I want to talk about the ASIMO advert but more specifically, what the above picture from the ad symbolises. It may look like 'just a picture of ASIMO with a space suit in a museum', but you must appreciate the irony in what he is doing.
When he approaches the suit, he recognises that it’s shaped like a human and you can’t help but imagine that he is surprised when he realises it looks like him – he waves in curiosity and wonders why the suit doesn’t respond, whilst gazing up in awe. Take some time to think about that....
....a machine that recognises an oversized, superior version of himself and then questions the objects intelligence because it doesn’t respond! It’s likely the majority of the people reading this will not get as hard about that sentence as I will, but you have to appreciate this undeniably epic advancement in technology over a mere 50 years and I believe this picture truly represents not only such an advancement, but the ‘world of tomorrow’ without uttering a single word. Again, you have to appreciate the irony.
This ingenious maestro can be rented at about £85,000 per year and there is currently 100 or so in the world. Check out the full commercial below.
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