Robots Are Fueling the Quiet Ascendance of the Electric Motor

If you were going to kick off a technological revolution, you'd be hard-pressed to do it with more pizazz than Tesla with its electric cars. But oddly enough, what's driving it all--the electric motor--is an ancient technology at this point. It's lost out to the gas engine for over a century, sure, but it's finally begun to take over transportation, thanks to supporting roles from better batteries and fancy sensors. But the electric motor is in the midst of launching a far bigger, far more subtle revolution--not in cars, but robots. Open up a robotic arm and you'll find that its joints are actually electric motors, known as actuators.