Prototyping

 I recommend to students that they develop both hardware and software incrementally. A.s.a. H. software, for example, was developed incrementally and in modules*: inputing and saving cases, normalizing, comparing to past cases,** finding match(s)**, making any predictions, updating matching old cases and adding new cases, making extrapolations** and interpolations, etc., etc. Slowly adding functionality. For hardware like mobile robots I would develop chassis, arms, grippers, sensors, navigation, etc. as individual prototypes, get them functioning, and then seek to combine and coordinate them.

* each tested individually (I favor modularity whenever possible but I do not favor object oriented programming.)

** individually trying out and comparing various algorithms

When would we need humans in space?

 Military space stations like the American Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) and the Soviet Almaz were rendered obsolete* by robotic spacecraft.** Studies are needed to determine what tasks really require humans in space.*** Any such list is presumably going to be reduced as AI and robotics technologies improve over time. 

* Have studies with Tiangong done anything to change this conclusion?

** Reconnaissance, communication, navigation, weather, intercepter satellites, etc. and, for example, today's Boeing X-37. Note the use of specialist robotic agents once again. Notice also that they are not of a  humanoid form.

*** If the Hubble robotic repair mission had been pursued purely as an experiment then it might have helped to establish some of these limits. And, if you ever wish to repair something (be it by humans or by robots) you should design it with that in mind from the very beginning. (Not to say that "single use" items should not exist. But they stay "single use.")

U.S. space program 2025

Will there be money enough (1.) for low earth orbit so as to allow a "commercial" space station to financially breakeven, (2.) to fund a manned Mars landing and return, (3.) compete with a manned Zhongguo/Rossiya* moon base, the ILRS, and (4.) do some actual space science? I don't believe it. Once again, try to do too many things at once and you end up doing nothing well.

* "Chinese/Russian"

Hacking toys again

This toy robot* can carry a small sensor pack and an Arduino or Raspberry Pi SBC.

* product model No. 968 "engineering vehicle" Shantou Jiabaile products co. ltd.

This robot* is large enough to carry a sensor package like the one in my blog of 10 February 2025.

* The chassis is taken from an amphibious remote control car manufactured by Spobot and the gripper assembly is from the innobot coding robot kit from Thin Air Brands.
 

Hacking toys has a long and honorable history, the first programmable pick and place robot was built from  Meccano (Erector set) in the mid 1930s. See Meccano Magazine, March 1938, pg 172, and The Robot Gargantua, cyberneticzoo.com under early industrial robots. And the earliest Roomba prototype was made with Lego in 1989.

How do you get there from here?

How does one peacefully get from todays hyper capitalism to a just democratic socialist state? I have suggested that one step might be to make all businesses nonprofit. This might be practical since something like half of businesses today are not currently profitable.

A.I. agents

In the mass of hype* that surrounds the world of A.I. research today the definition of "agent" has been lost. An agent is reactive, autonomous, goal oriented, and continuous running. Agents are frequently also communicative, mobile, flexible, and learn and have "personalities." A.s.a. H. A.I. agents have existed for many years now.

* i.e., lies 

Physical A.I.

A rebuild of one of my first Lego A.s.a. H. A.I. robots. The original was made using Lego that belonged to Emporia State University and that was left behind when I retired.

 I've had best results with a society composed of 4 or 5 different specialist agents, each having no more than 6 degrees of freedom.