Sometimes the future takes a long time to arrive. That’s a Nanalyze original (as far as we know), and it simply refers to the fact that hype around technology lags far behind commercially viable adoption. Consulting firm Gartner has made a living with its hype cycle charts, but even those don’t necessarily capture the decades-long struggle for some technologies. Consider that the field of artificial intelligence has been around since the 1950s, but it’s only been in the last decade that some forms of AI have become embedded in our everyday lives – and our investment portfolios.
Similarly, the first computerized robots as we know them also emerged in the 1950s. While industrial robotics is a relatively mature industry with plenty of investment options, we’re still waiting for C-3PO and R2D2 to roll off the assembly line. In the meantime, we’re left with various riffs on the robotics theme, few of which have been compelling enough to add to our Disruptive Tech Portfolio or Catalog. In this article, we’re