Bench Talk

Bourns’ SM91243L transformers set new standards in power electronics with DFM overmolding and fully automated manufacturing, delivering compact design, high reliability, and cost efficiency for clean energy and industrial applications.

Robots have captured our imagination since Leonardo da Vinci’s medieval sketches, but humanity’s mania with humanoid mechanical beings—friend or foe—has only intensified. The last century saw robots becoming a cornerstone of pop culture, showing up everywhere from books to films, TV shows, and songs, continuing the takeover of human entertainment.

The first robots I recall ever interacting with when I was young were Transformers. I suppose, if you were being REALLY generous, you could refer to them as semi-educational toys since each was a mini-puzzle that only kids younger than 13 could figure out. In fact, if I were this clever at 8-years-old, I might have convinced my parents to want to buy me more. But then, all I would have to show for it would be a box full of forgotten plastic robots that transformed into cars I could now sell on eBay. But there was a different group of transforming robots that I wish I had discovered in my high school days. Instead of buying them, you built them with a group of your peers. Instead of transforming into cars, they would transform your life.