Robots with a keen eye for shape and colour.

Machines programmed to cut and polish diamonds. Uri Ariel places on the table a tidy package made of waxy-white paper folded into a rectangle the size of a small envelope. He gingerly opens it to reveal dozens of shiny rough diamonds. Worth $137,000, they range in size from one to 2.5 carats. "Pick one," he says. Ariel, president and CEO of HRA Investments Ltd., operates the first diamond cutting and polishing operation of its kind in North America. Almost the entire global supply of diamonds is cut and polished by people hunched over thick magnifying glasses, many located in Third World countries. But here, in a 10- by 12-foot room on the 21st floor of a downtown Vancouver office tower, are more than two dozen appliances, each smaller than a home sewing machine. They are robots, programmed to cut and polish diamonds. "This," says Ariel, "is the future.".