Lemelson holds patents on machine-vision systems, an industrial robot, a fax machine, a copy machine, a tape-recorder drive, and a camcorder.

Perfecting a robot that bridges the gap will call for advances in almost every facet of modern robotics: artificial intelligence, machine vision, mechanical and electrical design, signal processing.

The experience of the DARPA challenge has shown that dealing with road junctions and traffic queues in cities is becoming possible too, especially with advances in machine vision.