The "Age of Robots" is approaching. Magazine articles and television shows abound with robots and their incredible abilities. There seems little doubt that the robots are coming, but the real question is, what will happen to them when they arrive?

Superior technology is not always welcomed. Even a relatively benign technology often encounters serious problems. A classic example is the Picture-Phone, developed some 50 years ago. It was a great idea, but the engineers who designed it didn't anticipate that people don't want to get dressed or even comb their hair before they answer the telephone.

At this very moment, countless engineers are busy designing circuits and thousands of programmers are writing code that will enable robots to walk, manipulate objects and carry on intelligent conversations. Unfortunately,

A robot is a machine that does something physical, automatically in response to its environment.
What are NOT robots?

• A monkey is not a robot because it is not a machine.
• A computer is not a robot because it just sits and processes data.
• It does not do anything physical.
• The "robot" arm on the space shuttle is not a robot because it is totally under human control and does not do anything automatically.
• An alarm clock is not a robot because it does not sense or respond to its environment. It keeps track of time, but it does so internally.

• My home washing machine is a robot.
• It is a machine.
• It physically moves the clothes around to wash them.
• It performs a number of different activities in order