Robots came into the world as a literary device whereby the writers and film-makers of the early 20th centu0'could explore their hopes and fears about technology,as the era of the automobile,telephone and aeroplane picked up its reckless jazz-age speed.From Fritz Lang's Metropolis and Isaac Asimov's l,Robot to WALL-E and the Terrnirator films,and in countless repetitions in between,they have succeeded admirably in their task.41.Since moving from the page and screen lo real life,robots have been a mild disappointment.They do some things that humans cannot do themselves,like exploring Mars,and a host of things people do not much want to do,like dealing with unexploded bombs or vacuuming floors.And they are very useful in bits of manufacturing.But reliable robots-especially ones required to work beyond the safety cages of a factory flom-have proved hard to make,and robots are still pretty stupid.So although they fascinate people,they have not yet made much of a mark on the world 42.That seems about to change.The exponential growth in the power of silicon chips,digital sensors and high-bandwidth communications improves robots just as it improves all sorts of other products.And,as our special report this week explains,three other factors are at play.43.One is that robotics R&D is getting easier.New shared standards make good ideas easily porta-ble from one robot platform to another.And accumulated know-how means that building such plat-forms is Setting a lot cheaper.A robot like Rethink Robotics's Baxter,with two arms and a remarkably easy,inLuiLive proyammrng interface,would have been barely conceivable ten years ago.Now you can buy one for$25,000.44.A second factor is investment.The biggest robot news of 2013 was that Goog1e bought eight promising robot startups.Rich and well led and with access to world-beating expertise in cloud computing and artificial intelligence,both highly relevant,Google's robot programme promises the possibility of something spectacular-though no one outside the company knows what that might be.Amazon,too,is betting on robots,both to automate its warehouses and,more speculaLively,to make deliveries by drone.In South Korea and elsewhere companies are movinS robot technology to new areas of manufacturing and other services.Venture capitalists see a much better chance of a profitable exit from a robotics srartup than they used to.45.The third factor is imagination.In the past few years,clever companies have seen ways to make robots work.Now more people will grasp how a robotic attribute such as high precision or fast reac-tions or independent locomotion can be integrated into a profitable business;eventually some of them will build mass markets.Aerial robots-drones-may be in the vanguarcl here.They willlet farmers tend their crops in new ways,give citizens,journalists and broadcasters new perspectives on events big and small,monitor traffic and fires,look for infrastniccure in need of repair and much more besides.43选？

• A.Robots Come from Lhe Movies
• B.Development of Robots Is Fast
• C.Google Enters the Robot Industry
• D.Robots Today Are Not Impressive EnouS;h