Cheap Robots Are Ready for Work

Robots have been part of science fiction for a century and have been indispensable to the plans of many large-scale manufacturers since the late ‘70s.  But even as computers, sensors, and networks have advanced rapidly and price-performance has improved exponentially, functional robots have remained either expensive pieces of capital equipment, glitzy mega-bucks research projects, or hobbyist's toys unable to do much economically useful work.  However, the year 2013 will be remembered as the moment that all changed.  What happened?  What are the imp.....