Fascinating peek and poke into the near future
HUBO NBC
We’re happy to report that we’ve discovered another viewing gem in the course of our channel-surfing adventures that you too could find worth your time and cup of tea: NBC’s “Machine Impossible.”
It’s a peek and poke into the near future, showcasing experimental inventions, gadgets, robots, etc., that promise a truly marvelous tomorrow.
This is an especially exciting prospect for gadget geeks and people who want more free time away from work and chores—which would be performed by the new machines featured on the show.
Aug. 24’s telecast opened viewers’ eyes to other uses of the now popular drones, which are mostly still used only for games and leisure fun time.
In the show’s future world, which is already here as far as forward-thinking innovations are concerned, the drones won’t be used just for play, but to work—as couriers that swiftly transport all sorts of products from one office or home to another.
The experimental situation featured on the program had a man using his drone like a modern-day “carrier pigeon,” lifting a bag that contained his cell phone, on which he had texted a message to a friend not far away, to send him something to drink.
Message received, the friend did as instructed—and, in only a few minutes, the owner of the obedient drone was slaking his thirst, pleased as punch!
The very simple illustration conjures up a new tomorrow in which bigger drones would be tasked with what vans are more slowly and cumbersomely doing now, delivering packages people have ordered online or via phone, no human driver and assistants involved!
Even supermarkets could use the bigger drones to deliver foodstuff ordered online to customers at home, eliminating the need to travel, drive cars, pay for gas, etc. The carrier pigeon turned into a giant stork!
Of course, there will be “air traffic” problems galore, but the experimenters are figuring out solutions to those pesky concerns, as well. So we could be going from “E.T., phone home” to “E.T., drone home”—in no time at all!
Another brain-tickling innovation featured on the show was a South Korean robot named Hubo, which was so technically and “mentally” gifted that it could perform quite a number of tasks on its own, without human “prompting.”
It could not only open doors and climb stairs, but also figure out the “best” way to open that door, out of a number of different options presented to it.
As for climbing those stairs, the task could be suddenly altered to include an incline that would be more difficult to navigate—but Hubo would adjust his “balance center” and not fall down! Wow.
Hubo did this by “looking” at the new problem with the video camera attached to its “face,” and the new information it provided would trigger off the required adjustments, no sweat!
No wonder then, that the new show described Hubo as a neohumanoid, the “face” of the worker, driver, househelp, production assistant and even BFF of the (near) future! We were happy to make his acquaintance in the show.
