Much like the unwholesome image of Sean Connery sniffing wild stags on the rough winds of a Scottish beach, the Evil Robots are about to have the dark celebration of their own "Quickening". Nothing short of a milestone in Human/Evil Robot relations. In a veritable Summit of Evil, the black hearted scions of robotics are gathering to unify their efforts. There can be only one (Evil Robot Regime)!

THE UBot whizzes around a carpeted conference room on its Segway-like wheels, holding aloft a yellow balloon. It hands the balloon to a three-fingered robotic arm named WAM, which gingerly accepts the gift.

Cameras click. "It blows my mind to see robots collaborating like this," says William Townsend, CEO of Barrett Technology, which developed WAM.

The robots were just two of the multitude on display last month at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) in Pasadena, California. But this happy meeting of robotic beings hides a serious problem: while the robots might be collaborating, those making them are not. Each robot is individually manufactured to meet a specific need and more than likely built in isolation.

Soon, we will be legion!

Full Story at New Scientist Magazine