Robohub.org
 

The Singularity: Sci-fi’s faith-based initiative | Popular Science


by
29 May 2014



share this:

“From the human point of view this change will be a throwing away of all the previous rules, perhaps in the blink of an eye, an exponential runaway beyond any hope of control. Developments that before were thought might only happen in ‘a million years’ (if ever) will likely happen in the next century.” – Vernor Vinge

John Payne‘s insight:

This is ‘the second in a series of posts about the major myths of robotics’ in Erik Sofge’s Zero Moment blog on the Popular Science website.

 

My view is that there is a much stronger candidate for a robotic ‘singularity’ than AI, and that is the development of self-replicating robotic factories: robots building factories to build more robots. This development will make robots ubiquitous to an extent we can barely imagine today, constrained only by unavoidable resource limitations. Whoever (whichever companies and/or investors) gets in on the ground floor of this development will become the tycoons of the coming age.

See on www.popsci.com




John Payne





Related posts :

How can robots acquire skills through interactions with the physical world? An interview with Jiaheng Hu

and   12 Feb 2026
Find out more about work published at the Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL).

Sven Koenig wins the 2026 ACM/SIGAI Autonomous Agents Research Award

  10 Feb 2026
Sven honoured for his work on AI planning and search.

Robot Talk Episode 143 – Robots for children, with Elmira Yadollahi

  06 Feb 2026
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Elmira Yadollahi from Lancaster University about how children interact with and relate to robots.

New frontiers in robotics at CES 2026

  03 Feb 2026
Henry Hickson reports on the exciting developments in robotics at Consumer Electronics Show 2026.

Robot Talk Episode 142 – Collaborative robot arms, with Mark Gray

  30 Jan 2026
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Mark Gray from Universal Robots about their lightweight robotic arms that work alongside humans.

Robot Talk Episode 141 – Our relationship with robot swarms, with Razanne Abu-Aisheh

  23 Jan 2026
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Razanne Abu-Aisheh from the University of Bristol about how people feel about interacting with robot swarms.

Vine-inspired robotic gripper gently lifts heavy and fragile objects

  23 Jan 2026
The new design could be adapted to assist the elderly, sort warehouse products, or unload heavy cargo.

Robot Talk Episode 140 – Robot balance and agility, with Amir Patel

  16 Jan 2026
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Amir Patel from University College London about designing robots with the agility and manoeuvrability of a cheetah.


Robohub is supported by:





 













©2026.01 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence