Rodney Brooks knows the difference between real technological progress and baseless hype.
One of the world's most accomplished experts in robotics and artificial intelligence, Brooks is the co-founder of IRobot, the maker of the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner; co-founder and chief technology officer of RobustAI, which makes robots for factories and warehouses; and the former director of computer and artificial intelligence labs at MIT.
So when, in 2018, the Australian-born Brooks encountered a wave of unwarranted optimism about self-driving cars — "people were saying outrageous things, like, Oh, my teenage son will never have to learn to drive" — he took it as a personal challenge. In response, he compiled a list of predictions about autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, robots and space travel, and promised to review them every year until Jan. 1, 2050, when, if he's still alive, he will have just turned 95.
