Robots Kicking Butt

Some people are convinced that the robots are going to take over the world in one way or another. And you thought that all that software development was just for good. Here are a couple examples of robots taking over. At the Big Bang Fair in Birmingham, England, a robot made from a Samsung Galaxy 4 smartphone and Lego Mindstorms components established a new world’s record for solving a 4×4×4 Rubik’s Cube. The Cubestormer 3 needed just 3.25 seconds to align the colors on each side of the cube, breaking the old record (held by its sibling, the Cubestormer 2) by more than two seconds. The best time a puny human can muster? 5.5 seconds, by Mats Valk of the Netherlands. Earlier this week, researchers at Oxford published a report predicting that nearly half of all U.S. workers will eventually be replaced by automatons. The top occupations in danger of being replaced by software: loan officers, receptionists, and paralegals. Those with relative job security include chiropractors, choreographers, and the clergy. At least some of us have a prayer of staying employed.