The Way Of The Future: Microscopic Robots Battle to Win "The Robo Cup"

Are you ready for The Future? Too bad if you're not....cause we're there!

For those of you who thought the coming of the iPhone 3G meant we had arrived in a place not even our most creative science fiction writers even dreamed of 15 years ago, you were wrong. You were close, but you were wrong.

Even more futuristic than hand held devices that allow us to communicate with friends, do business from bed, pinpoint our location on this planet, and gather information through user friendly html rendering web browers, are microscopic robots battling for a championship on a pitch no larger than a grain of rice!

There is certainly nothing more futuristic than microscopic robots clashing in a  sport under the watchful eye of the entire human race.

This week the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will be hosting the "RoboCup" in Pittsburgh in which robots six times smaller than an amoeba will be competing on a field the size of a grain of rice.

The details of the event along with the technology can be found at Dr. Dobbs Portal. As exciting as this sporting event is, what tickles me even more is possibility of what we might expect as we travel further and further into the future.

Imagine a world where the silly machismo of modern day sport is replaced by the masterful work of the human brain and the raw materials we have been provided on this planet. There will be no doping or weird locker room shenanigans, but instead battles of brain power, technology and synthetics. 

Bloggers will discuss which lab or factory has signed which programmer or engineer to build their new striker or implement their new AI software in the team's new goalie.

Here's the craziest part. In the Back to the Future movies, the concept of an iPhone couldn't even be imagined and here I am doing my best to predict the future of sport.

So who's to say we might not someday be watching categories of sports that we can't even fathom existing today? Too heady? Welcome to the Future.