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"Life Gets So Much Better"; Federal Reserve Signals More Help; Robots to the Rescue

Aired October 15, 2010 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thanks to our Carol Costello. And CNN NEWSROOM continues and filling in for me today on the 1:00 to 3:00 -- oh, Ali, you know I love you, buddy. Take it away, my man. It's all yours.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Always a pleasure to see you. Have a fantastic afternoon.

HOLMES: Thank you.

VELSHI: I'm Ali Velshi. Listen in a moment, we're going to do something very special and very different on this show. We're also going to get you caught up on the latest headlines. Big economic news to tell you about.

First, the Federal Reserve might take some bold steps to jump- start the sputtering economy, but no one's calling it a second stimulus plan.

Plus, we're going to get to the bottom line of the foreclosure freeze. Guess what, it's not going to wipe out most foreclosures.

Also, it's one of the most high stakes races of the upcoming midterm election, Nevada's Senate race. If Harry Reid loses, he would be the first sitting Senate Majority Leader to lose an election in more than half a century. We'll look ahead and look back on last night's debate between Reid and his rival, Sharron Angle.

Plus, we've got a revolutionary six-foot tall robot right here in the studio. It can retrieve all sorts of things and do much more. It can help the disable, the sick, the elderly. It might one day be a fixture in your home or your workplace. I'll have a live demonstration.

But first, I'm going to show you something as far from robotic as you can get. Something from the heart. Something that choked me up when I first saw it. We here at CNN have worked for 30 years to bring you the world, and our singular coverage of politics, government, the people's business is one of our highest priorities. We like to say CNN Equals Politics, but to many people, politics equal something less than noble.

Almost every day, especially in election years, you can tune in or login and hear acrimony, sanctimony, personal attack and counter attack. Almost every day, real problems that cry out for honest attention are ignored. Not today. Today on this program, we're showing you a side of politics that you may have forgotten still exists, a public official speaking from the heart about a matter of life and death, truly of life and death.

You may have heard about this on the web. It's all over the place. You may have seen clips on a newscast. But I promise you, what I'm going to bring you in the next 20 minutes, you have not seen before and you won't see anywhere else just yet. It's going to take me about 20 minutes to get through it. More time than some of you have stick with me. What you'll hear are words that may change a life or save a life.

In a few minutes, you'll meet Joel Burns. There he is. City counseling, Ft. Worth, Texas in his first network TV interview. But first, you're going to hear the incredibly personal and courageous remarks he made to his fellow council members and the public on Tuesday night. He spoke on a subject that hits a lot of nerves and stirs up debate among generally well meaning people.

But it all comes down to the right of children and teens not to be persecuted or beaten up or driven to suicide merely for who they are. Some of the language you're about to hear is coarser than we'd ordinarily bring you, but we made a decision to air these remarks unedited. We'll pause for a break about halfway through and afterward, we'll talk to Joel Burns about his life and his cause. A cause you may see differently after you hear his story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOEL BURNS, COUNCILMAN: I want to ask my colleague's indulgence in allowing me to use my announcement of time to talk briefly about another issue that pulls at my heart. Would you go ahead and run the -- the parents of Asher Brown, who you can see above, complained to school officials (INAUDIBLE) the outside of Houston that their son was being bullied and harassed in school. The bullies called him fagot and queer. They scabbed him (ph). They punched him.

And finally, his parents call the counselors and principals the harassment, intimidation continued. For years, it continued. A couple of weeks ago, after being bullied at school, Asher went home, found his father's gun and shot himself in the head. His father found Asher dead when he came home from work. Asher was 13 years old. I'd like for you to look at his face.

Unlike Asher, Indiana teen, Billy Lucas, who never self identified as gay, but was perceived to be by bullies who harassed him daily at the (INAUDIBLE). Three weeks ago, he hung himself in his grandparents barn. He was 15 years old. Minnesota 15-year-old Justin Auburn came out to friends at age 13 after which the harassment and bullying began. It grew as he moved from middle school to high school. When he found the harassment more than he could bear, he hung himself in his room and was found by his mother.

Classmates started teasing and name calling Seth Walsh in the fourth grade. It continued through his middle school years where other students told him the world didn't need another queer and that he should quote "go hang himself." On September 18th, after being threatened by a group of older teens, he went home, threw a noose around a tree branch and he did just that. He hung himself in his backyard. His mother saw him, pulled him down, sat by his bed for nine days before dying a couple of weeks ago. He was 13 years old.

Teen bullying and suicide has reached an epidemic in our country, especially among gay and lesbian youth. Those perceived to be gay or kids who are just different. In recent weeks, New Jersey Tyler Clementi jumped off a bridge to his death after his roommate outed him on the internet. Rhode Island teen, Raymond Chase, hung himself in his dorm room, and we learned just yesterday, of Oklahoma teen, Zack Carington, who killed himself after attending a city council meeting within Norman, Oklahoma where speakers made disparaging anti-gay remarks.

There's a conversation for the adults in this room and those watching to have, and we will have it. That this bullying and harassment in our schools must stop, and our schools must be a safe place to learn and to grow. It is never acceptable for us to be the cause of any child to feel unloved or worthless. And I'm committed to being a part of that conversation. But tonight, I would like to talk to the 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17-year-olds at Pascal, in Arlington Heights, in Trimble Tech high schools or Daggett, Rosemont middle schools or any school in Ft. Worth or anywhere across the country for that matter.

I know that life can seem unbearable. I know that the people in your household or your school may not understand you, and that they may even physically harm you. But I want you to know that it gets better. When I was 13, I was a skinny, lanky, awkward teen who had grown too tall, too fast, who was stumbled on my own feet. I was the son of a Methodist church pianist named Jeanette and a cowboy named Finley Butch (ph) in Grow (ph), Texas.

As their son and as a kid in a small town, there was a certain image of who I thought I was supposed to be, and as I entered adolescence, I started having feelings that I didn't understand and couldn't explain that I knew they didn't mesh (ph) the image of what I thought I was supposed.. I was a sensitive kid but friendly. I was a band dork. I played basketball but not very well. I was teased like all kids, but I was fairly confident and I didn't let it bother me much.

One day, when I was in the ninth grade, just starting Crowley High School, I was confronted after school by some older kids who roughed me up. They said that I was a faggot and that I should die and go to hell where I belonged. That unleashed (ph) the fear that I had kept this down that what I was beginning to feel on the inside would somehow be showing on the outside.

Ashamed, humiliated and confused, I went home. There must be something very wrong with me, I thought. Something I could never let my family or anyone else know. I think I may have hard time about next couple of sentences that I wrote. Also, I don't want my mother and father to bear the pain of having to hear me say -- (END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: Thank you for staying with me during this. We're going to take a break. When we come back, you're going to hear the rest of Councilman Burns' story. A story he's never told anyone before.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: We're breaking with our normal format today to bring you an extraordinary act by a local politician in Texas. This week, Joel Burns, a city councilman in Ft. Worth made a highly personal appeal for simple civility, humanity towards the youngest and most vulnerable among us. We just aired the first half of his remarks at the city council meeting on Tuesday night. We're going to run the rest now, and afterwards, he'll join us live for an interview you won't see anywhere else.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BURNS: I have never told a story anyone, my family, my husband, not anyone, but the number of suicide in recent days have upset me so much and it just tore my heart. And even though, there may be some political repercussions for telling my story, the story is not just for the adults who might choose or not choose to support me. This story is for the young people who might be holding back (INAUDIBLE) or the rope or the pill bottle. You need to know that the story doesn't end or out didn't tell (ph) on that unfortunate day.

There's so, so, so much more. Yes, high school was difficult. Coming out was painful, but life gets so much better for me. And I want to tell any teen who might see this, give yours a chance to see just how much better life will get. And it will get better. You will get out of the household that doesn't accept you. You will get out of that high school and you never have to deal with those jerks again if you don't want to.

You will find and you will make new friends who will understand you, and life will get so, so, so, much better. I look back and my life is full of so many happy memories that I wish I could share with those who were shown up above earlier and those who have taken their lives. Memories that I wish I could share with the 13-year-old version of me on that very unfortunate day.

If I could, I would take the 13-year-old me by the hand and take him to the campaign office in 1982 where Governor Clinton made a very speechless moment. My now partner, J.D. Angle and I saw it for the first time. I would take that 13-year-old me to the first day of spring in 1999 on a West Texas ranch hill top surrounded by a dozen head of Black Angus cattle. He thought we were there to feed.

And as the sun set turn the sky pink and purple and orange in the way that only way a West Texas sun set can, I jabbed my hands into my jeans pocket and pulled out two (INAUDIBLE) that I had really spent my last dollar on and pulled it on J.D.'s hand and asked him to spend the rest of his life with me. I would take the 13-year-old child to election back in 2007, and I really feel with countless family and friends erupting in cheers when it became clear that I would win my first election. So that they could see the love and support for me that was in the room that night. I would take the 13-year-old me to just a few days ago at Baylor Hospital, to see our dad. Our dad who's no longer the 40-year-old tough cowboy that he was when I was 13, who I thought would never understand me.

But is now the 67-year-old dad and still pretty tough cowboy who is going older and the 13-year-old me would see me today holding my dad's weathered hands and see my dad as he woke up from his operation and him squeeze my hand and look up at me and say, Joel, I'm so glad you're here today. And I said, I am too, dad, I am too. For those who are feeling very alone tonight, please know that I understand how you feel, but things will get easier.

Please stick around to make those happy memories for yourself. It may not seem like it tonight, but they will. And the attitudes of society will change. Please live long enough to be there to see it. And to the adults, the bullying and the harassment has to stop. We cannot look aside as life after life is tragically lost. If you need resources, please check out the Trevorproject.org online and you can call me and I will get you whatever resources you need.

My number is (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I want to thank those in this room for allowing me this time. And to J.D. and the rest of my family, I'm sorry for you hearing to this painful personal story in this public way for the first time, but know that I am able to tell it because of your love for me. And mom and dad, I'm alive today because you love me.

Again, attitudes will change. Life will get better and you will have a lifetime of happy memories if you just allow yourself and give yourself the time to make them. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: This is the second time that I've watched that. It was hard to watch both times. Joel Burns was watching it with us, and after a break, we'll talk to him. We'll find out why he's made this decision to join us and talk about this as openly as he did. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: We just aired something you wouldn't normally expect to see on a network newscast. Roughly 13 minutes of unedited remarks from a local city council meeting in Texas. We did it because of the honesty and the passion of the speaker and because of the life and death major of the subject. Joel Burns in public for the first time shared his heart rending experience as a target of bullies who attacked him because he's gay.

People know that Joe Burns is gay. He now knows that he's among the lucky who survived to lead rich and productive lives, and he wants other gay teens to survive too. He wants to kids who are bullied to stand up and stay with us. Joel, thanks for being with us.

BURNS: Thank you very much.

VELSHI: Joel, you took your earpiece out. I didn't live your experience, and it was hard for me to watch. Both times I've seen it. You took your earpiece out while you were watching this. It's hard for you to listen to your own words.

BURNS: That's true. It's actually the first time I had heard it without seeing it. And the part about my dad, really about my parents, in general, is still the toughest part for me as you can see from the video from Tuesday night.

VELSHI: That's part of the important part. That's the part that you want people to remember, that as hard as it seems, it gets better, and as hard as those pressures are, stick around, and life gets better. How does it get better?

BURNS: In a wide variety of ways. And the reality is that it gets better in ways you can never fathom as a 13 or 14-year-old when your experiences -- what it has been up until that moment and times are dark, and you're either being bullied or harassed at school or outside school. You got a household of folks who may not accept you. There may be any kind of abuse around it, and you may think that there's just really no hope of that time after adolescence and after your teenaged years.

And as I mentioned, I have often thought wouldn't it be wonderful if I could go back and show to the me that existed as a teenager that really didn't think that the future was all that bright at times, and show him just the amazing wonderful things that have happened in the course of my adult life and, you know, it's a story that continues.

I mean, I wish I could show the 13-year-old not only all the things that I said in that video, but I mean, the fact that I'm on CNN today is just something I would have never guessed as a 13-year-old or even really a few weeks ago.

VELSHI: You weren't looking for publicity, I know that. You are openly gay, but people didn't have the impression perhaps that you struggled the way you did as a kid? And I think that's the issue here. That we're not realizing in that interim, in that stage where people start to feel different and maybe it's because you're gay, maybe it's not, maybe you're just different from everybody else.

Are we not providing a society, the civility or the access to the help and information and support that kids need?

BURNS: I think the recent rash of suicide is indicative of the fact that we're not doing our jobs in that regard. I have a sister who's a teacher in a rural Texas high school. And she's been teaching for about seven years now, and she told me the night of this, she called and said, I want you to know that I see this every day. And it's not just gay kids.

It's anyone who's different, anyone who's perceived to be gay, perceived to be effeminate, overweight, you know, anything that's out of the norm. These kids can be very, very mean, My sister and I talked about her experience as a teacher in rural Texas. And she said it's unlike anything when she first started teaching seven years ago.

And so, yes, I think that it has gotten worse, and I think that the rash of suicide is very indicative of that.

VELSHI: You said in your speech, for the adults, for the parents this has got to stop. What do we do? What do the rest of us do who are not the bully and who are not the bulliers?

BURNS: I think there's a wide variety of things, and I think the very first thing for the parents, the teachers, the school administrators, the coaches, is to unable those kids, remind those kids that they have power and that it is OK for them to look around them and try to think of who in my school is being bullied. Even if they're not the ones being bullied, although, statistics say that nine out of ten kids report some form of harassment while in junior high and high school.

Even if they're not -- even if they're just that 10 percent that's not getting harassed, ask them to look around and ask them to see the kids that are in their classroom. If they may not be friends with, that they see getting picked on and let that kid know that it's okay. That there's someone who might stand up for them.

That there's someone that they can lean on. They're someone who will have their backs. And it's important for the parents to give their kids that permission, to remind them that they can go to their classmate, and say hey, I know times are hard for you. If you ever need a friend, let me know and I'll be there for you.

VELSHI: Your twitter page or Facebook must be getting a lot of -- as mine certainly is as the result of this. Somebody just tweeted to say, I've seen how mean people can be. Even if I disagree with that lifestyle, we should love. That's kind of the point.

The kind of the point is that we're not asking people to make decisions about whether you approve of homosexuality or not. That's not what this discussion is. This discussion is about civility. It's about pluralism. It's about respecting differences.

BURNS: Well, it's not just that, but it's about creating a safe place for our kids to go to school. And even when they're out of school and they're at a, you know, local convenience store or at the shopping mall or wherever they are, that they're not subjected to the kind of, I mean, really just over the top harassment and bullying that we've seen.

Some of the kids, some of the guys that I referenced at the beginning of my comments, I mean, they had survived literally years of harassment and bullying that had largely, according to their parents, gone unanswered over the course from the administrators and principals and teachers. And that's something that has to stop.

VELSHI: Joel, how's your dad doing? BURNS: He's doing OK. He's out of the hospital, and this, I think has been tough for him. I talked to my mom again this morning. My dad and I are close. We operate often times in a way where we communicate sometimes through my mom. She's a little more chatty than my dad is. And you know, I talk to my mom about, you know, how is dad doing? Because I specifically referenced him on Tuesday night, and I think that this has been hard for them.

I think that, you know, I have really fantastic parents. And I know that in my upbringing, that they wanted to be as there for me as they possibly could and if they could interpret what I said on Tuesday that there was some failing on their part, and the reality is is, you know, they never failed me once. It's just that kids go through tough times and experience things outside the eye of their parents and unfortunate things happened to me outside of their viewpoint.

And, you know, those weren't things that they could protect me from and I don't know that I would want them to be there at every single moment protecting me from them. But they're doing okay, my dad is -- yes, sir.

VELSHI: That's good. I wanted to know because I know that was a big part of motivating the comments that you made. And we thank you for doing what you did. We thank you for joining us. You're a credit to politics, to Texas, to your country. You're a hero and you will. Your words will save lives. Thanks for being with us.

BURNS: Thank you. I appreciate it.

VELSHI: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: When is a stimulus plan not a stimulus plan? Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a strong signal this morning that he is ready to act again to try to kick start the U.S. economy. He said, "There would appear...to be a case for further action." He said a lot more than that, but we're not going to bore you with the rest of it. He is not going so far as to talk about another stimulus plan.

So what can Bernanke do to save this economy that everybody else hasn't done?

Well, let's turn to my co-host, my "YOUR $$$$$" co-host, Christine Romans, because at times like this she's smarter than me. What can they actually do? What does that mean, because the markets seem to like it? What does it mean?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, they want to stimulate the economy, Ali, in the way that the Fed does stimulus and that is to basically inject, goose the economy as much as it can, by buying up assets, but buying maybe Treasury-related assets out of the market, flooding back into the market and then you've got money available and you've got the whole thing humming along again, right? The problem here for the Fed and what Bernanke is saying, Ali, is that unemployment is still to uncomfortably high, and that in fact, inflation isn't a problem, but maybe inflation might be too low. And so, this a Fed that's been arguing about this for a few weeks, but is very closely watching a recovery in the American economy that it thinks is subpar.

VELSHI: Let's talk about one of the effects of goosing the economy or maybe one of the ways in which you do it. You flood the economy with money, maybe you print more money, as they like to say, the effect is that there's more money available, it is easier to borrow money.

And we have just seen brand-new mortgage rates out, Christine, how many times do I say mortgage rates aren't going to get any lower and then they get lower?

ROMANS: Ali, for a year you have been saying mortgage rates are at rock bottom, they're so low. Now, they've gone down a whole percent since we first started talking about how low they were. It's 4.21 percent according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Interest rates in this country are incredibly, incredibly low. The dollar is weakening. All this -- the way these markets work together is quite complicated, but bottom line here, around the world, you have countries who are trying to goose their own economies, get their export machines humming so they can try to pull themselves out of this wreck and they're not actually -- we're not actually working all in concert together, which is one of the reasons why you're hearing people talk about currency wars.

VELSHI: So you want to try and bring your currency down to make your exports more attractive to other countries, but all those other countries, including ours, have to have demand. They have to have people prospering, They have to have people who want to work, who want to buy all of that stuff. For all the stuff that China makes, Americans actually have to work for people to be able to buy it.

ROMANS: And we haven't hit that yet. We have not figured out how to get demand going again. It probably has a lot to getting jobs going again. It probably has a lot to do with resolving the housing crisis as well.

But we have interest rates that are incredibly low here right now. We have a Fed that says it may have to step in and do some more goosing to the economy.

I suspect we'll know more about that the next time the Fed has one of its big meetings, Ali. Maybe they will pull back the veil a little bit and let us what they're going to do to push the economy forward.

VELSHI: OK. And it's also interesting because right now, in the midst of an election cycle, it's hard for politicians to talk about that because stimulus is a bad word. The Fed, an apolitical organization handing that. Christine, so great to see you, as always.

Hey, listen, you can watch Christine here every day at this time. You can also watch us every weekend on "YOUR $$$$$" Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, Sundays at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

But if that is not enough Christine Romans for you, she's the author of a new book, "Smart Is the New Rich." It's on bookshelves right now.

Which all means you can watch Christine every morning, you can watch Christine every afternoon, you can watch her on Saturday and Sunday, and then you can read her book to end your day perfectly.

OK< 18 days until election day. Coming up, we're going to take a closer look at one of the more contentious battles, one of the more important battles in the country. It threatens to do more than just swing the balance of power. It threatens much more than that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: To politics now, there are just 18 days until the critical midterm elections and there's one race which may have a bigger impact than the rest.

I'm talking about Nevada. It's Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid against Tea Party-favorite Sharron Angle, she's the Republican candidate. They're neck and neck right now depending on which polls you're looking at, but let me tell you why a Reid loss would be historic.

Here are the last two Senate majority leaders to lose reelection bids. These two. Notice they're black and white? That's because it was a long time ago.

The man on the left, Senator Ernest McFarland, he lost in 1952 to Barry Goldwater. The man on the right, Scott Lucas, he's also senator, he lost in 1950 after being targeted as a Communist sympathizer by Senator Joseph McCarthy.

OK, that's enough of the history for now. Here's the way the Reid-Angle angle shapes up now. A Suffolk University poll from this week shows Reid with a slight lead. But then there's the Mason-Dixon poll that shows almost the exact same numbers for both of them with Angle having the slim edge.

Angle has touted her fundraising prowess, but she says she's raised more than $14 million.

That's not all she said, look at this quote from July. Quote, "You can make more money on unemployment than you can going down and getting one of those jobs that's an honest job." That's what she said.

She also said, quote, "I'm tired of some people calling me whacky," end quote. Those words have been fodder for the Reid campaign.

Last night, the two of them faced off for their one and only debate. One of the hotter topics was health care.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D), MAJORITY LEADER: My opponent doesn't like any insurance companies to have to do anything. She's against mammograms, colonoscopies and as we've heard lately insurance companies cover kids that have autism. That's -- that's really extreme.

SHARRON ANGLE (R), NEVADA SENATE CANDIDATE: The solutions to the health care insurance cost problem are simple and they reside within the free market. We need to get the government out so we can go across state lines to choose insurance companies. We need to get the government out of the process so that we can take off those mandated coverages.

REID: We need them to be forced to do mammograms. That's why you see Breast Cancer Awareness Month. That's why you see the baseball players wanting pink shoes and you see the football players having pink helmets, it's because people dread breast cancer and you don't get breast cancer, you correct breast cancer, you detect it, if you do mammograms.

ANGLE: Pink ribbons are not going to make people have better insurance plans. What makes people have better insurance plans is competition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: We'll have more on politics later.

But here, this is what I want to talk about, robots. Robots are the future and the future is right here next to me in this studio. The story behind this five-foot fellow coming up in today's "Big I." You've got to see this guy in action.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right. You saw this just before we went to the break. This is a robot. Robotics are a big part of our life right now, but I wanted to show you what some of these robots can actually do.

I'm joined now by Charlie Kemp, he's the director of the Center for Healthcare Robotics at Georgia Tech, our good friends at Georgia Tech, as you know, populate a lot of our "Big I" segments, big ideas. And Travis Dale?

TRAVIS DIAL, RESEARCHER, GEORGIA TECH: Dial.

VELSHI: Dial. He's the researcher -- often, we have two people here when we have a technical demonstration, because Travis is going to be the Wizard of Oz controlling this thing. Charlie, what does this do?

CHARLIE KEMP, CENTER FOR HEALTHCARE ROBOTICS, GEORGIA TECH: Well, so this is a robot called the Personal Robot 2, and the notion is it's sort of like a personal computer. And this is a research robot. So Willow Garage has produced a bunch of these and handed them out across the world to the researchers like me --

VELSHI: Willow Garage is a separate company, they're in California.

KEMP: Willow Garage is the company that makes this robot. And so, it's a program is to try to really build this infrastructure for robots. And so, we've got some things we've been developing with this that I'm excited to show you.

VELSHI: So they decide -- they build a robot, and other companies do this, but they build a robot with as many capabilities as possible and then they send it out to you researchers and say create applications, create things that this thing can do.

KEMP: That's right, exactly, so that we don't have to develop it from scratch. We can actual focus on --

VELSHI: You can start solving problems.

KEMP: That's exactly right.

VELSHI: OK, so show me some of the things this thing can do.

KEMP: So first of all, it's got these arms and they're very articulate like our arms and they're also compliant. So if you were to go into a factory and you see an arm there, it's like a brick wall. So that's, we think, is very important.

It also has this mobile base, it can move in any direction. So it actually can go side to side, for example.

And then finally, this year, lots of sensors and that's going to --

VELSHI: Let's move this around a little bit.

KEMP: Travis, you just want to show it can go side to side here.

DIAL: Yes.

KEMP: Yes. So it's not constrained to sort of move forward like a car. And here there are lots of sensors so it can see the world and better interact with it.

VELSHI: And you've got sensors here, you've got sensors here, got some down here.

KEMP: Yes, cameras and laser-range finders. So for example, this actually shoots a laser out, makes a 3D measurement and based on that, it's kind of able to create this 3D view like you might have on a video game.

VELSHI: So the idea is that this can be fully remotely controlled? Travis doesn't have to be right next to us to do this.

KEMP: Yes, I mean, I think both autonomous and non-autonomous operations are going to be important. So sometimes people are going to be controlling it, but I think the really exciting future is where these robots can actually going to do things on their own.

VELSHI: So give us a demo.

KEMP: So, yes. So the demo here, first of all, to just kind of give the background, the research project at Georgia Tech, we're focusing on how this type of robot can make a difference for older adults. And the notion is that the robot could provide more independence, a higher quality of life and let them live at home longer.

So one big problem for older adults is medicine, how do you remember what medicine to take when. And so, our idea is that robots can worry about that. They can worry about which medicine has to go to which person at which time.

And so, what we're going to show here is a demonstration which uses this. It's an Arf ID tag. It's just - super cheap. Like, 10 cents. Self adhesive. We have put one of these on this necklace, and we'd like you to wear this necklace -

VELSHI: OK, fair enough. So, this identifies me --

KEMP: So, this is going to tell the robot you're the guy who --

VELSHI: It can read -- by the way, RFID, by the way, is like your tags used to get into work, your toll passes -

KEMP: Exactly.

VELSHI: It's a very ubiquitous way of identifying.

KEMP: And this happens to be pretty long range. It's also collaborative work with professor Matt Reynolds at Duke University.

VELSHI: OK. So, this computer -- this robot now knows who I am?

KEMP: Well that's right. So, that's going to tell it, you're the guy who's supposed to receive the medicine. So, my student, Travis, he's going to start this up. So, you see those antennas that are moving around?

VELSHI: Yes.

KEMP: They're looking for that tag. So, once they have found it, the robot is going to turn towards you, So, OK, it found the tag, it knows that you're the person. And now it's going to hold those antennas fixed, and whichever one gets a stronger signal, that tells it how it's going to turn. So, it's just going to move to you . You could move to the side and it will follow you, you'll find that it turns.

VELSHI: Oh, that's interesting.

KEMP: When it gets to you --

VELSHI: Right, it's adjusting itself.

KEMP: It's going to hand out the medicine to you. And all you have to do is grab that medicine and it'll release it.

VELSHI: All right Wow.

KEMP: And if you want, you can have some. It's just Peanut M&Ms.

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VELSHI: That's good. That's all right. OK, so this is just one application.

KEMP: It's one application, and it's research in progress.

VELSHI: And you can create anything, like an app for an iPhone, you can do whatever you want.

KEMP: It's the general purpose properties of this that are really exciting.

VELSHI: Excellent: Charlie Camp is the director of the Center for Health Care Robotics at Georgia Tech. Travis Dial is a researcher at the site there at Georgia Tech. Thank you for bringing this to us.

Stay with us, we have got more going on with this robot when we come back. By the way, you can get more information by going to CNN.com/ali. Stay with us.

KEMP: Great to be here.

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VELSHI: All right. You know we love technology here. We love "The Big I" every day. A new idea that's changing the world.

It's happening right now. I'm kind of fascinated. We know robots. I actually tweeted out that we're going to have a real robot on the set. And somebody said to me, "A real robot as opposed to what?" And I said, "A real robot as opposed to the robots you see in movies and cartoons." This is a real robot made by a company called Willow Garage in San Francisco.

And I'm joined now by the co-director of Willow Garage, Keenan Wyrobek. Keenan, we saw one demonstration of this. Great idea. You make a bunch of these, send them to researchers, researchers find applications for them.

Tell me about the future of robotics. What are these things going to be able to do in our regular lives? We know they're used in manufacturing. We know other areas that they're used. Tell me what I don't know.

KEENAN WYROBEK, CO-FOUNDER WILLOW GARAGE PERSONAL ROBOTICS PROGRAM: So, this is really exciting because this new field of personal robotics has the potential to revolutionize productivity, both in our home and in our work life in a way that robotics of today hasn't been able to touch.

VELSHI: Tell me about some of those ways.

WYROBEK: Talking about personal robotics, we think of it a lot like the personal computer. It's about giving people -- individuals tools to automate the repetitive or menial parts of their everyday lives. So, we've talked to people in lots of industries, in lots of job functions. And it's a real shame how many people spend very little time doing the creative problem-solving that we're great at and spend most of their time doing repetitive, menial tasks -

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VELSHI: This is where these devices can start to do that and free us up to be more creative?

WYROBEK: Exactly. Exactly.

VELSHI: Tell me a little bit about what this does for us in terms of productivity, in terms of being able to do something and not being physically present. So, the idea of giving medication. The idea of maybe even diagnosing someone. What else can be done because there's a physical presence of a robot where maybe a human may not be present?

WYROBEK: So, we're looking at industries everywhere. And there are lots of industries in the office and even in places where you think of robotics already existing today, in assembly and manufacturing, where you still have really skilled people where they're spending a lot of their time doing repetitive tasks.

So, we're looking to make applications for those people, sort of like on iPhone app, if you will, that lets them automate the repetitive part of what they do in that job.

VELSHI: When will the cost of these be something that you'll start seeing them be used in smaller-size businesses, maybe even people's homes?

WYROBEK: That's not where we are today. We think that's a couple of years out but we don't think it's 20 years out. This is starting to happen. And even the work that you see with PR-2 going on around the world -- Charlie's work is a great example of that -- it's just absolutely amazing, and they've only been out for four months. We think that as these platforms are out there and other companies make better and cheaper platforms, and we make better and cheaper platforms, we're going to se applications coming really soon.

VELSHI: Fantastic. Congratulations to you and the folks at Willow Garage. Keenan Wyrobek is the co-director of Willow Garage. Thanks for allowing us to play around with one of your great creations. Thanks to Georgia Tech for their help in demonstrating this to our viewers.

All right. The Republican strategy for election day success, pick on Pelosi. Your CNN political update up next.

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VELSHI: It is 18 days until the critical midterm elections. We want to get you updated on the latest developments from the campaign trail. Our CNN senior congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, part of the Best Political Team on Television.

Dana, fantastic to see you again. What's crossing the ticker?

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You too, Ali.

Well, something that we just put up on the ticker. You know if you turn on your television anywhere from here in New York all the way to California and in between, you're probably going to see a Republican television ad linking Democratic candidates to Nancy Pelosi. But we have know data compiled for us by Evan Tracy at the Campaign Media Analysis group that illustrates how valuable that message is to Republicans.

It is staggering: $42 million, that's right, $42 million. That's how much Republicans have spent, the party, Republican candidates, outside groups, to vilify Nancy Pelosi and tie her to candidates in television ads all across the country. She's already appeared in 356 ads. They've run over 112,000 times. That's a figure that's going up every day.

Now, Pelosi's always shrugged this off. When you ask her about it, a spokeswoman told me that she's being targeted because she is effective.

Now, the next item on the ticker is about the race in Wisconsin, Senate rays race there. It's something that you talked to Republicans about, Democrats about. They all say what's happening in the state of Wisconsin, Ali, is really fascinating. It is a reliably blue state. But Democrat Russ Feingold, who is really one of the most independent senators in Washington because he tells his own party and Republicans to take a hike on a regular basis, is struggling in his re-election bid. It's the same reason other Democrats are. He's been in Washington a long time. People are really mad at Washington.

Well, guess what? His Republican opponent, Ron Johnson, is stoking the fire by saying he's never been in Washington until this year. Never been in Washington until this year. Now, he's a conservative who has run along the lines of other Tea Party candidates around the country.

One last thing to tell you about, Condoleezza Rice, Ali. President Bush's former secretary of state is going to meet with President Obama at the White House today. You know, you've probably seen her. She's been on a book tour promoting her memoir. She's going to go and talk to President Obama. She says they're going to talk about a wide range of foreign policy issues. Boy, would you love to be a fly on that wall.

VELSHI: I would love that! It's a long way to go to sell a couple of books, but I guess there's more to it than that --

BASH: Do you think he'll buy one?

VELSHI: I think he'll buy one. I think these are two interesting people. No matter what side of politics you sit on, you want to know about their pasts. And Condoleezza Rice has a remarkably rich past. That book is very interesting. Because It's not her political memoir. It's her life memoir.

BASH: Absolutely.

VELSHI: Dana, great to see you as always.

BASH: Thanks, Ali.

VELSHI: Dana Bash.

Your next political update is just an hour away. We'll be right back.

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