Stanford University robotics experts developed the tech for uses like navigating small spaces in search and rescue missions. The findings were announced in a scientific journal today. The robots of the cartoons and movies from the 1970s will be the reality of the 2020s. This pandemic has massively accelerated investment and developments in artificial intelligence and this will have far-reaching implications on the American workforce. I saw this firsthand when I visited a factory where a company was packaging pharmaceuticals.

In last week's recap, I recounted how Alec Ross, author and technology policy advisor, had speculated that robot design, development and manufacturing would be critical to future economic well-being worldwide. What I didn't share was some of the background he provided that calls into question whether United States is positioning itself to be a leader in the robotics industry and the impact robotics will have on U.S. manufacturing jobs going forward. John Hitch has authored two recent articles on the robotics industry--a July 17 article, Reconciling Robot-Induced Anxiety and Admiration and an August 14 article, Manufacturing Obscurity is a Fate Worse than the Robopocalypse. These articles provide detail on these two questions above, and I highly recommend you read them. Here is some of the information they present.

The New York Times bestseller, from leading innovation expert Alec Ross, a "fascinating vision" (Forbes) of what's next for the world and how to navigate the changes the future will bring. While Alec Ross was working as Senior Advisor for Innovation to the Secretary of State, he traveled to forty-one countries, exploring the latest advances coming out of every continent. From startup hubs in Kenya to R&D labs in South Korea, Ross has seen what the future holds. In The Industries of the Future, Ross provides a "lucid and informed guide" (Financial Times) to the changes coming in the next ten years. He examines the fields that will most shape our economic future, including robotics and artificial intelligence, cybercrime and cybersecurity, the commercialization of genomics, the next step for big data, and the impact of digital technology on money and markets.

In 10 years, we'll see big changes in how people live their lives and how companies operate, thanks to the innovation that's now being kindled around the world. So says Alec Ross, former innovation adviser to Hillary Clinton during her term as U.S. Secretary of State, who lays out the thesis in his new book, The Industries of the Future. In Part 1 of our interview, Ross explains how the technology underlying the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, blockchain technology, will greatly reduce the friction in financial and other transactions. Here he discusses the impact of cognitive robots and the outlook for U.S. companies trying to compete on a global scale. You talked about robotics a lot in your book and you focused for the most part on physical robots.

This film is brought to you by the World Technology Network. Job displacement due to automation of ever increasing range of professions - from truck drivers and lawyers, to writers and financial analysts - is likely to be one of the greatest challenges of the next couple of decades. A 2013 Oxford study predicts that up to 47% of jobs could be lost in the United States - nearly twice the unemployment rate of the Great Depression. Why wait till it's too late? Let's talk about this elephant in the room now.

Related: Robot revolution: rise of'thinking' machines could exacerbate inequality As a senior adviser to Hillary Clinton, Alec Ross travelled the world with the remit of cataloguing the best examples of innovation the human race has to offer. His trips took him to Korea, the Congo and Silicon Valley (and far enough overall he has calculated, to take him from the Earth to the moon twice, with a side trip from the US to New Zealand), and left him with a concern that the rate of change could leave many behind. From robots entering the workforce and leading to the very real prospect of redundancy within a decade for the million employees of Taiwan's electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn to genetic engineering unleashing the possibility of designer babies, the power of technology to reshape the world is reaching historic levels. But the people who have the most to lose from those changes are often the ones who get the least warning. That, says Ross, was his motivation for writing The Industries of the Future, which looks at six of the biggest waves of change about to hit the world.

Imagine yourself one hundred years from now. Yes, you're still alive, breathing through genetically engineered pig lungs, and having dinner at your favorite restaurant. A robot waiter rolls up to refill your glass of wine, which is equipped with a sensor that allows the restaurant to automatically deduct 10 from your Bitcoin account. Your companion, who doesn't actually speak the same language as you, is saying how much she loves her salad, which comes from a farm that uses precision agriculture techniques to boost productivity by effectively dividing fields into one-inch square plots that each receive customized fertilizer mixes based on their specific conditions. You understand her perfectly thanks to a small device in your ear that instantly translates her words and perfectly mimics her voice.