The need for motion control

Jacob was watching a figure-skating competition being broadcast on television. The grace with which the leading pair were executing the moves was so pleasing, even mesmerizing. The precision with which the skaters were executing the moves so that they could reach the same position on the ice even though they were approaching from different angles, and immediately breaking away onto different paths, was breathtaking. Jacob noticed that the two skaters were executing different moves each time, and tracing different paths of different lengths, yet managed to reach the same position in the correct orientation with respect to each other time and time again! It occurred to Jacob, by now so intent on his voyage of discovery in the field of automation, that here was a challenge that the automation he had encountered so far had no tools to address. He was now eager to have another conversation with Josef. Josef was in the same room, reading the pre-publication copy...