What does the future hold（拥有） for robotics? What is the next step, or the next technological boundary（边界) to overcome? The general trend for computers seems to be faster processing speed, greater memory capacity and so on. One would assume that the robots of the future would become closer and closer to the decision-making（决策） ability of humans and also more independent（独立的）. Presently the most powerful computers can''t match the mental ability of a low-grade animal. It will be a long time until we''re having conversations（对话） with androids(机器人) and have them do all our housework. Another difficult design aspect about androids is their ability to walk around on two legs like humans. A robot with biped（有两足的） movement is much more difficult to build then a robot with, say, wheels to move around with. The reason for this is that walking takes so much balance. When you lift your leg to take a step you instinctively（本能地） shift（转移） your weight to the other side by just the right amount and are constantly（不停地） alternating your center of gravity to compensate for（补偿） the varying degrees of leg support. If you were to simply lift your leg with the rest of your body remaining perfectly still you would likely fall down. Try a simple test by standing with one shoulder and one leg against a wall. Now lift your outer leg and observe as you start to fall over.
Indeed, the human skeletal and muscular systems are complicated for many reasons. For now, robots will most likely be manufactured for a limited number of distinct tasks such as painting, welding or lifting. Presumably（假设）, once robots have the ability perform a much wider array of tasks, and voice recognition（语音识别） software improves such that computers can interpret（翻译） complicated sentences in varying accents, we may in fact see robots doing our housework and carrying out other tasks in the physical world.
Vocabulary
1.conversations n. 会话；交谈
2.androids n. 机器人
3.biped n. 两足动物；a.有两足的
4.distinct adj. 清楚地，明显的，截然不同的
5.presumably ad. 推测起来；大概
6.instinctively ad.本能地
7.alternate v. 交替；轮流改变
8.skeletal a. 骨骼的
9.muscular n. 肌肉的
10.compensate for 补偿
