It's alive!

摘要

Inanimate things are coming to life. However, these stirrings are not Shelley's Frankenstein or Asimov's humanoid robots. This new awakening is more like Walt Disney's Sorcerer's Apprentice: the simple objects that surround us are gaining sensors, computational powers, and actuators. As a result, desks and doors, televisions and telephones, cars and trains, eyeglasses and shoes, and even the shirts on our backs—all are changing from static, inanimate objects into adaptive, reactive systems that are more useful and efficient.