The choppy/consolidating (or perhaps worse) market conditions sometimes give the impression that growth plays do not exist, but that is not the case, and one growth company worth reviewing is Intuitive Surgical. (Note: Intuitive Surgical is only for investors who can tolerate high risk.)

Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG) has developed the da Vinci Surgical System of software, hardware and optics that allows doctors to perform robotically-aided surgery from a remote console.

Analysts believe 2008 revenue will move substantially higher on instrument and accessories sales, pricing power and high-definition system upgrades. Yes, high definition is coming to surgery, too.

Longer term, analysts see Intuitive's technology broadening to new surgical procedures. Margins remain massive and are likely to approach 75% in 2008. The Reuters F2008/F2009 EPS consensus estimates for ISRG are $5.05/$6.81.

Issac Asimov would be proud. In today's ever expanding universe of artificial intelligence and robotics, it would seem that no barriers remain to the boundless potential of what robots can accomplish. From cleaning swimming pools to exposing makeshift bombs, robots are now assisting humankind in tasks both dangerous and mundane. As an investment, the world of robotics can potentially provide wondrous long term growth when one considers that mobile robotics are finally being widely accepted as practical in mainstream lifestyles.

On March 30, 2007 Kevin Shult reported that Benchmark initiated iRobot Corp.(NASDAQ: IRBT) with a buy rating and a target price of $17. Kevin stated that Benchmark "believes the company is a compelling investment given its market potential and undervalued stock." Since that time, the company's shares are performing well, which has prompted me to check out the iRobot Corp. company website.

Founded in 1990 by a development team with roots from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. iRobot currently has interests in some 80 or more robotics and artificial intelligence patents. iRobot is dedicated to developing robotic technologies that can make a positive impact on peoples lives. iRobot manufactures robots that vacuum, pick up, scrub, fight fire, patrol, investigate, detect, extract and educate. It is newly shaping the fundamental practices of military, law enforcement and domestic tasks. Sporting names like Roomba, Scooba and Verro, iRobot has produced name recognition for its products by providing products that function as prescribed.

If investment in cutting edge technology is your thing (and I believe it should be a part of any investment portfolio), then I think you owe it to yourself to check this company out. Robotics and artificial intelligence are tomorrow's new horizons. iRobot has a fun and easy to investigate website which will provide you with everything you need to know in deciding if it's a good investment choice.

Imagine my satisfaction when reading the recent issue of Motion Systems Design and find yet another industrial reference to the LEGO Group, Billund, Denmark. Being that my first real engineering projects were built using LEGOS as a boy, it is very pleasing to me that it's kept pace with the baby boomer generation and has followed us to work.

Mindstorms NXT by the LEGO Group provides a toolkit interface for LabView users, allowing them to use drag and drop graphical programing by National Instruments Corp (NASDAQ:NATI) out of Austin, Texas, to create virtual instrumentation for utilization in operating and controlling the Mindstorms NXT robotics platform. While the toolkit is intended to facilitate advanced user's interaction with NXT robotics, the maker states that its design may be successfully utilized by children as young as ten years old.

National Instruments states in a press release issued in December: "Once users download a LabVIEW program to the NXT, they can use the toolkit to interact with the NXT robot while a program is running." The toolkit is designed and intended for use with LabVIEW versions 7.1, 8.0 and 8.20.

National Instruments is a designer and manufacturer of hardware and programming environments for utilization in the testing, observation and control of a wide variety of physical attributes such as pressure, heat and electrical current flow. Additionally, N.I. provides test management software applications for use in industrial systems analysis. National Instruments may be considered for the custom design of testing regimens to best capture and exploit any manner of in house, statistical process control (SPC) testing and functionality programs.

National Instruments stock closed at $26.67 on 02-16-07 at about double its average volume. NATI's 52-week high of $34.14 was set on 04-21-06, and its 52-week low of $24.41 was set on 07-18-06. National Instruments recorded EPS of $1.06 for fiscal 2006 and pays a quarterly dividend of 7 cents.