BETWEEN THE LINES: BUGGED BY TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING ADVANCES FOR NEW ROBOTS

Why aren't there more inventions I would like to use lining the store shelves?

If engineers at a Japanese electronics company can create an ant-sized robot to crawl around and fix equipment, then technology is making greater strides than I ever expected.

So how come there aren't more inventions to make life easier for the average person? Businesses are clearly at an advantage when it comes to the technological world.

Of course, few of us so-called average people could afford to pay for an ant-sized, or even a larger, robot to help with chores or the housework. But that's beside the point.

If technology has advanced to such great heights, then why aren't there more inventions and devices I'd like to use lining the store shelves?

If that ant-sized robotic creation can repair pipes and pieces of equipment at manufacturing plants, then someone can surely create a voice-activated remote control for my television set.

If I were mechanically inclined, I would have created such a device already. Unfortunately, an engineer I am not.

I think a voice-activated remote control would be an optimal device for the nation's couch potatoes (notice that I'm including myself here). If I wanted to watch an ABC program, then all I'd have to do is speak into the remote that I wanted to see a 7:30 p.m. show on the ABC channel. The television channels would change and I'd never have to punch a button. It would save me the time and effort of memorizing channel lineups only to find that the channel numbers have changed.

This would be an important advance for people who move from city to city or cross country. My television had been programmed for local channels, and when I moved to Florida, I had a difficult time remembering that Channel 12 wasn't the CBS affiliate, it was an NBC channel. It's a matter of conditioning, I suppose.

Also, why can't these same engineers create those wonderful devices you see on science fiction shows?

Those characters are always carrying around pocket-sized devices that transport them aboard ships or take them to holographic worlds. There's even a laser machine that repairs damaged cells without cutting open the patient's wound.

Although I'm not a Star Trek fan, I've watched (and videotaped for a friend) enough of the spinoff shows to know that technology for the new millennium might be lacking.

On those science fiction programs, the computers are activated by voice and can create databases and sort information in seconds. Most office computers can't run two programs at once without crashing or succumbing to an evil virus.

On "Star Trek: The Next Generation," one character has a device, resembling a banana-shaped hair clip, that helps him see. Without the device he would be blind. I think that's an invention worth having.

But then I also think my voice-activated remote would be a crucial device, too. After all, isn't the point of an invention that it saves someone time, effort or money? I'd spend more money on time-saving devices if I had it.

~Laura Johnston is a copy editor for the Southeast Missourian.