Last month, the National Science Foundation hosted a luncheon at the Hart Senate Office building in Washington, D.C., in order to familiarize U.S. Senate members with the most recent advances being made in the field of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS, for short). This meeting stressed the importance of the research being done, and illustrated the importance of CPS in such varied applications as surgery, clinical trials, and traffic control as well as many other such useful or life-saving scenarios.

“The event brought together more than 50 researchers and students who are conducting CPS research across the country, giving them the opportunity to inform policymakers on Capitol Hill about how that research may impact many of the challenges the federal government is grappling with, including making health care more efficient and effective, revitalizing the auto industry and revamping the U.S. economy.

… Experts believe that CPS technologies will increasingly affect our wellbeing, security, and competitiveness, in a variety of areas including aerospace, automobiles, civil infrastructure, energy, finance, healthcare and manufacturing.” source

The National Science Foundation, an independent federal agency created in 1950, provides about twenty percent of all federally funded basic research conducted by colleges and universities in America. In other words, they are the best people there are to tell our government’s representatives: “Hey, robots are way cool!”.