The Droids
The droids in Star Wars are so amazing. They can move around just like people. They can see things and repair complex objects. They talk and carry on conversations. They solve problems. They even have emotions -- like happiness and sadness.

When you compare that to the robots we see today, it looks like R2-D2 and C-3PO are a long way off. The robots we have today have about as much intelligence as a grasshopper. Robot vision is very limited today. Having a conversation is near impossible. Out of all of the technologies in Star Wars, however, droids are the ones that will actually happen in your lifetime. Within 40 to 50 years, C-3PO will probably come to life.

Photo courtesy © Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved. All Digital work by ILM.

What's holding robots back right now is brainpower. Scientists think that a human's brain is able to process between one quadrillion and 10 quadrillion operations per second. A typical PC on your desk can handle only about a billion operations per second. In other words, a PC is about one million times slower than the human brain.

The good news is that, every 20 years or so, CPUs get 1,000 times faster. In 40 years, PCs will start to have the same amount of computing power as a human brain. At that point, things like vision and conversations will get a whole lot easier, and droids will start to act a lot like people. Just like C-3PO.