Greetings avid Linux fans and welcome to Crystal Ball Sunday #9: Intelligent Control. By Intelligent Control, I mean using artificial intelligence programming for the next generation of automobiles, manufacturing, air traffic control, environmental systems, handicapped person devices and prosthetics, and perhaps the most inspiring of all: Robots.

Intelligent systems have been around for years in video games and some of the other applications mentioned above but the future of those systems lies with Linux. Linux is the new Intelligent Platform for developers, integrators, and adopters alike. The operating system itself will likely become an intelligent system.

In the near future, I foresee AI (Artificial Intelligence) applications created for robotic control and to intelligently navigate terrain, surface streets, homes, yards, retail stores, and shopping malls. In the old days of robotics, robots used programmed pathways so that their navigation never varied or they following some sort of painted or wired path on the floor of where they were used.
Nowadays, robots use the bump and turn method of navigation where the robot runs until it touches an object. Once it touches an object, it turns a specified number of degrees and tries again until it is free from the object. Neither of these methods is particularly useful for non-repetitive tasks or trips to the local market.

To be truly useful, Linux AI programmers will have to use a variety of methods including GPS feedback for street navigation, LASER feedback for object navigation, and perhaps InfraRed feedback for navigation around people and animals. Decision trees will have to be streamlined and optimized for changing environments. Decision trees will also need the ability to be rewritten by the system as conditions change.

Linux is the right choice for these applications since it can be customized for low power consumption, extreme speed, and small footprint into embedded systems and solid state devices.

In the future, Linux will work smarter not harder.