Rodney Brooks, the MIT robotics pioneer behind iRobot and now Rethink Robotics, looks proudly as Baxter manipulates objects on the table. Just moments before, we "programmed" Baxter to perform a task by simply moving its arms. It has embedded sensors and elastic actuators so the interface to the world is intuitive and mimics human actions.

It also means the robot is safe to operate among humans. Right after this photo, Rodney put his head in the path of Baxter's swinging arm, letting it nudge him harmlessly.

The out of box experience is also easy. You just plug Baxter into a standard power outlet.

Rethink is rethinking robotics. The primary use of industrial robots is in automotive - doing dangerous tasks as quickly and precisely as possible. They are in safety cages and do not work among people. The application space for Rethink is quite simple — it mimics human capabilities (speed, accuracy, lifting capacity, common sense, adaptability, safety) and can easily be trained, and retrained, by nontechnical workers to perform menial tasks.

Baxter reminds me of my first personal computer, the Apple ][, and the revolution in human productivity that ensued.