Unless it's Bender, it just isn't that cool

I am tired of people bragging about working for robotics companies. I'm especially tired of people who KNOW BETTER bragging to OTHER PEOPLE WHO KNOW BETTER about robotics companies. (for example, engineers who blog about it or put it in AIM profiles, both of which they know will primarily be ready by other engineers)

It just isn't that cool. Well, scratch that. It's not any more cool than about a thousand other things that happen at companies that do not have "robotics" in their name.

We use robots to keep the public interested in technology. They're cute and cuddly and have exoskeletons that really show technology at work. Of course, no one really cares about what really makes robotics cool -- the controls involved -- and similarly few of the robots people build at home have any interesting controls (and thus are pretty crappy robots that are little more than powered Slinkies). Really the things that make robots cool to engineers have NOTHING to do with robotics themselves. Those things are involved in all technology, under the covers, doing great things and being taken for granted by the layperson. Thus, there is nothing special about robots, and if you're actually involved in professional robotics, you shouldn't brag about the robots but rather brag about the problems you have to solve to make them work.

Bragging about working for a robotics company is just so pedestrian. You're doing a disservice to your profession, and you're pissing me off.

Technorati Tags: robots, engineers, Bender