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    "title": "Visions of the Future from Leading Thinkers [Binder] [2]",
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        "Records of the Domestic Policy Council (Clinton Administration)",
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    "ocrText": "Presidential Memorandum:\nRobotics Problems, Perils, and Predictions for the 21st Century\nMr. President:\nDespite the idealvisions of robotic technology presented by Hollywood, development has\nstalled on points of cost and complexityt that will limit progress in the field for most of the\n21st century. Robots have been designed by industry as sophisticated puppets to repeat\nactions, but they lack the ability to adapt to new tasks without constant, highly skilled\nsupervision. This severely restricts their affordability within expanding technological\nsocieties, especially in countries where they are badly required to help remove toxic\nlegacies and assist in economic growth.\nThe reason for this stall is that although a robot engineering disciplineexists, there are only\nthe rudin'ents of a science that allows for truly autonomous machines. Though there is a\npopulist feeling that \"when they are needed, the digital marketplace wilbrovide\", computer\nbased robots have consistently failed inmany critical areas of application. An inexpensive\nhome robot vacuum cleaner, for example, has been \"desired\" for decades but has stillyet to\nreveal itself.\nHowever, recent advances in the science of automatic competence indicate that, as in\nnature, there are minimal, elegant, analog solutions that might breakthis cost-to-complexity\nbarrier, allowing autonomous machines capable of performing general tasks for decades\nwithout human intervention. While there are many conventional robotics departments in\nColleges and Universities, nowhere are there independent robot research institutes\ndedicated to developing the necessary competence fundamentals. Suchcenters need to\nconcentrate on materials research, sensors, actuators, power systems, controls,\nmorphology, and systems integration. Their primary focus will be large \"robot parks\"\nwhere machines will be \"evolved\" by pitting them against increasinglycomplex natural\nenvironments. From the get-go, simulations should be used for analysis instead of\ndevelopment, and scientists will be encouraged to generate devices, not overheads. The\nidea is to evolve tools, not demos.\nThis approach requires long-terminvestment by government or big business as it's a hard\nsell. The \"computers can solve anything\" prejudice of the 20th century is still verymuch in\nvogue, and the media-reinforced robot myth is one of the most pervasive in our culture.\nThe contradiction is that we need to solve what many believehas already been solved\nbecause they saw it so vividly on \"Star Trek.\" We can't challenge this myth, therefore we\nmust match it.\nI submit that a new, parallel initiative is vital to develop machines capable of tasks that\nnature and man cannot be compelled to perform, or afford. Space colonization, robot\narmadas, passive prosthetics, mobile microsensors, applicable medical nanotech, are just\nexamples of technologies that can only advance from concentrated study into machine\n\"life.\" In many ways, we are starting from scratch with devices that can interact and\nunderstand as animals do, a vital requirement for universal mechanistic applicability. Not\ndevices capable of working for hours until they finish mowing the lawn, but capable of\nworking for years until they have finished clearing the minefield (putting in a few months\novertime for good measure).\nJanuary 25, 2000\n- Robotics in the 21st Century -\n2"
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