Robots, yes.
Saturday, 2. September 2006, 06:06:51
It took ten years for the PC “to conquer the world”.
Will robots in ten years from now, “be all over the place”?
When hearing the word robot, everyone who have seen “Star Wars”, will immediately picture the endearing robot R2-D2 (Artoo-Detoo) and the android. But some will think of industry robots welding or painting cars, others recall Isaac Asimov’s “I Robot”. Younger members of the Opera Community may think of the movie “I Robot”.
There is great interest in developing humanoid robots that can sense shapes, textures, and hardness and therefore handle complex objects. This is not readily possible by vision alone. A new material can revolutionize robots. A nanosheet has been produced witch can be wrapped around any surface, such as a robotic hand or a surgical instrument. These nanosheets consists of layers of metal and semiconductors and are only 100 nm thick. (1 nm = 10-9 m. So 100 . 10-9 m = 102 . 10-9 m = 10-7 m = 0,0000001 m.) Read more about nanosheets in National Geographic News: Robot Revolution: New Material Sensitive as Human Skin.
Microsoft is offering anyone to download a software kit for robots builders. Lego Mindstorm NXT have tested the MS software. A new generation Mindstorm robot-building kit is planned sold later this year according to the Danish manufacturer of play materials. South Korean scientists plan to put an advanced robot on the marked in time for the Christmas season. This robot can be programmed with the aid of a PC.
Ten partners in four countries (Germany, Switzerland, France and Portugal) aim to get a better understanding of 1) perception, 2) learning algorithms, and 3) Artificial Intelligence. Humans and robots are going to share a common environment. Bayes’ theorem helps researchers to gain a better understanding of perception and action in living beings. This will help to make artificial systems (read: robots). Bayesian Approach to Cognitive Systems, BACS have a home page in Switzerland.
An IBM computer scientist claims cognitive computing is making rapid progress towards simulating the humane brain. This, synthesis of 1) mathematics, 2) neuroscience, 3) computer science, and 4) psychology, is about to replace the term AI (artificial intelligence). This progress will quicken the introduction of robots into our every day life. But do we want robots in our homes to help us with daily tasks?
British scientists are studying how people interact with robots. They find out what future machines should look like and how they should behave, to be accepted by most people. American researchers find that robots are ideal testing platforms for multiple processors, because robots are the natural evolution of the PC.
Are robots the answer to immigration? Today “SimMan” teaches medical school students.
Personally I like robots if they look more like the android and not like Artoo-Detoo. And then I must insist that they abide by Asimov’s laws of robotics. If a mechanical butler will materialise within ten years, is more uncertain - only the future will show.
Isaac Asimov’s (1920-1992) three laws of robotics:
Introduced in Asimov’s 1942 short story "Runaround", the Laws state the following:
A robot
Thomas Bayes (1702-1761):
The probability of an event A conditional on another event B is generally different from the probability of B conditional on A. However, there is a definite relationship between the two, and Bayes' theorem is the statement of that relationship.
Will robots in ten years from now, “be all over the place”?
When hearing the word robot, everyone who have seen “Star Wars”, will immediately picture the endearing robot R2-D2 (Artoo-Detoo) and the android. But some will think of industry robots welding or painting cars, others recall Isaac Asimov’s “I Robot”. Younger members of the Opera Community may think of the movie “I Robot”.
There is great interest in developing humanoid robots that can sense shapes, textures, and hardness and therefore handle complex objects. This is not readily possible by vision alone. A new material can revolutionize robots. A nanosheet has been produced witch can be wrapped around any surface, such as a robotic hand or a surgical instrument. These nanosheets consists of layers of metal and semiconductors and are only 100 nm thick. (1 nm = 10-9 m. So 100 . 10-9 m = 102 . 10-9 m = 10-7 m = 0,0000001 m.) Read more about nanosheets in National Geographic News: Robot Revolution: New Material Sensitive as Human Skin.
Microsoft is offering anyone to download a software kit for robots builders. Lego Mindstorm NXT have tested the MS software. A new generation Mindstorm robot-building kit is planned sold later this year according to the Danish manufacturer of play materials. South Korean scientists plan to put an advanced robot on the marked in time for the Christmas season. This robot can be programmed with the aid of a PC.
Ten partners in four countries (Germany, Switzerland, France and Portugal) aim to get a better understanding of 1) perception, 2) learning algorithms, and 3) Artificial Intelligence. Humans and robots are going to share a common environment. Bayes’ theorem helps researchers to gain a better understanding of perception and action in living beings. This will help to make artificial systems (read: robots). Bayesian Approach to Cognitive Systems, BACS have a home page in Switzerland.
An IBM computer scientist claims cognitive computing is making rapid progress towards simulating the humane brain. This, synthesis of 1) mathematics, 2) neuroscience, 3) computer science, and 4) psychology, is about to replace the term AI (artificial intelligence). This progress will quicken the introduction of robots into our every day life. But do we want robots in our homes to help us with daily tasks?
British scientists are studying how people interact with robots. They find out what future machines should look like and how they should behave, to be accepted by most people. American researchers find that robots are ideal testing platforms for multiple processors, because robots are the natural evolution of the PC.
Are robots the answer to immigration? Today “SimMan” teaches medical school students.
Personally I like robots if they look more like the android and not like Artoo-Detoo. And then I must insist that they abide by Asimov’s laws of robotics. If a mechanical butler will materialise within ten years, is more uncertain - only the future will show.
Isaac Asimov’s (1920-1992) three laws of robotics:
Introduced in Asimov’s 1942 short story "Runaround", the Laws state the following:
A robot
- may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
- must obey the orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
- must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Thomas Bayes (1702-1761):
The probability of an event A conditional on another event B is generally different from the probability of B conditional on A. However, there is a definite relationship between the two, and Bayes' theorem is the statement of that relationship.
WIDGETIZE
zeroG # 4. September 2006, 19:37
I find the idea of being among robots both fascinating and creepy. I personally think that there won't be such thing as independent machine thinking (or AI) for many years to come but you can never be sure.
What I find as a more challenging question though is the ways that robots would be used and treated if they somehow seem to develop independent thinking and self-consciousness.
Will movies such as Matrix prove themselves right? Are we ready to accept other forms of intelligence and treat them as equal?
Maybe the question seems out of any possible current or near future technological reality but history has shown that humans were exquisite slow to accept that other humans were of equal intelligence to them even though that was apparent. They also based their racist "beliefs" on senseless characteristics such as skin color.
Anyway. Excuse my rambling. It's just that this subjects excites me a bit.
Leif Rømcke # 10. September 2006, 12:22
Yes, it can be both fascinating and creepy, but I think the introduction of robots will come little by little so we have time to get used to them. Can you imagine taking a Viking or Hercules and bring him directly to the autobahn in Germany in a sports car?
On racism I probably have lot to say, but I need a News Week Magazine from 1993, 94 or 95. I was living and working in Africa at that time, and read a special issue about racism that almost completely agreed with me. I need that special magazine to bee able to express my self in English, because my own experience of being different goes all the way back to when I was 6 years old. I did not know much English until I started working in an English speaking school. The conclusion in that magazine was that there is only one human race living on earth today…
If anybody can get hold of that special issue for me, I would be very thankful.