Robots will become part of daily life

Once relegated to science-fiction movies and automobile assembly lines, robots are expected to handle more complex tasks in health care and agriculture, among other areas.

Caring for an aging population, giving manual-labor jobs to illegal immigrants and keeping production costs down as worker wages rise sound like issues reserved for a political campaign. But panelists at a recent discussion at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge believe robotics will help solve these problems and others faced by society and businesses.

Once relegated to science-fiction movies and automobile assembly lines, robots will handle more complex tasks in various industries, including health care and agriculture, according to those who spoke about the future of robotics.

"People underestimate the long-term effects of robotics on society," said Rod Brooks, cofounder and CTO (chief technology officer) of robotics company iRobot and director of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence laboratory. "Robots are getting closer to people. We need to see how robots and people interact."

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