Robotics in the new millennium may not yet have achieved the original goal of freely moving machines with humanlike intellectual capabilities,but it certainly has advanced by leaps and bounds. Today’s machines not only aid industrial manufacturing, they can vacuum our homes, stand in as pets, explore other planets and even assist in surgeries.Bots of the near future stand poised to further impress. Think brain-machine interfaces that enable people who have lost a limb to control a robotic replacement with their mind—a feat that has already been demonstrated in rats and monkeys. Imagine a team of tiny robots working together to inspect a collapsed building for trapped victims, or to spy on terrorists holding people hostage and relay criticalinformation back to authorities. Robot designers in several laboratories are in fact developing just such millibot armies.Leading researchers and journalists explore these developments and more in this exclusive online issue. Scientific American has a long tradition of publishing articles by smart people for smart people. As you ponder the progress of artificial intelligence in the pages that follow, consider the scenario envisioned by robotics pioneer Hans Moravec in his article in this issue: by 2050 machine smarts will rival our own. —The Editors