San Diego is becoming a force to be reckoned with in the fi eld of robotics and remotely operated vehicles. “I’ve heard people throw around the term ‘Drone City, USA,’” engineer Tim McConnell told a San Diego audience recently. “I don’t know. We’ll see if it sticks.” McConnell made the observation during a program organized in August by CommNexus, a local technology group, which took stock of San Diego’s place in the robotics world. There is a lot going on. In addition to its unmanned aircraft builders, the region houses businesses specializing in software to control walking and flying robots, a business that builds robotic “farmhands” and a business specializing in remotely operated swimming machines.
