Like many of you I grew up reading science fiction, and to me Isaac Asimov was a god of the genre. From 1929 until the mid 90s, the author created many lasting tropes and philosophies that would define scifi for generations, but perhaps his most famous creation was the Three Laws of Robotics. Conceived as a means of evolving robot stories from mere re-tellings of Frankenstein, the Three Laws were a fail-safe built into robots in Asimov’s fiction. These laws, which robots had to obey, protected humans from being hurt and made robots obedient. This concept helped form the real world belief among robotics engineers that they could create intelligent machines that would coexist peacefully with humanity. Even today, as we play with our Aibos and Pleos, set our Roombas to cleaning our carpet, and marvel at advanced robots like ASIMO and Rollin’ Justin, there’s an underlying belief that, with the proper planning and programming, we can insure that intelligent robots will never hurt us. I wish I could share that belief, but I don’t. Dumb machines like cars, dishwashers, etc, can be controlled. Intelligent machines like science fiction robots or AI computers cannot. The Three Laws of Robotics are a myth, and a dangerous one.
Posts tagged "robotics"
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The Myth of the Three Laws of Robotics – Why We Can’t Control Intelligence →
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Ultimate Weapons- X-47B unmanned stealth drone.
Source youtube.com -
Mind-controlled prosthetics to help amputees →
ROBOTIC limbs controlled solely by the mind could be available to paralysed people within a year.
Monkeys are being trained to control what might be the world’s most sophisticated and human-like robot arm. But they never touch the prosthetic limb or fiddle with a remote control: they guide it with their thoughts alone. If trials are successful, in a few months from now people with spinal cord injuries could learn to do the same.
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Robot To Throw Out First Pitch Today At Phillies Game →
On May 29, 2010, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay threw a perfect game. It was only the twentieth time ever a pitcher had reached perfection. Halladay told reporters that he tries to separate emotions from the job at hand and focus on pitching strategy: “you really can’t have feelings out there, you know, you gotta almost think of yourself as a robot.”
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A new pharmacy supplying medicine to the UCSF Medical Center is currently under the control of a handful of Swiss and Canadian robots that won’t let the pharmacists handle the medications directly. Housed within a highly secure and sterile environment, the robots unashamedly dispense oral and injectible medications free from meddling humans and their contaminants. To date, they have prepared and processed more than 350,000 dosages without error rendering the pharmacy staff’s counting skills useless. (via Singularity Hub)
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South Korea has developed an automated, turret-based weapon platform capable of locking onto a human target three kilometers away.
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Disappointed by the lack of companionship offered by your current media center PC? Then you might be interested in this so-called REETI unit developed by France’s Robopec. You see, not only is it a full-fledged media PC, it’s also a robot — one capable of displaying a range of emotions, no less. The company’s actually been working on this one for a little while now, but it just recently made its public debut at the Innorobo trade show, where it showed off its ability to track people with its eyes and respond to both speech and touch. Still no word on availability, but it seems like the company is, in fact, planning to sell them at some point. Until then, you can check out a pair of videos after the break, including some shocking evidence of where REETI really came from.
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Geminoid Summit
Sit down and meet your robotic self.
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Cynthia Breazeal: “The rise of personal robots”
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Source youtube.com
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Drone Aircraft: How the Drones Got Their Stingers →
Cruising silently overhead, an unmanned Predator aircraft uses its infrared camera to pinpoint the telltale muzzle flashes from a sniper’s rifle. The plane’s operators, located half a world away, then unleash a Hellfire missile from under its wing, using a laser mounted beneath the craft’s nose to guide the munition into the very window the sniper had been shooting from.
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A Look Inside China’s Robot Restaurant (video) →
A restaurant in the city of Jinan in China is making international news by employing some unforgettable waiters. The Dalu Robot Restaurant features six custom built robot servers with some that resemble the classic automatons from 1950s science fiction, and others that are basically wheeled tables. There are also two more feminine robots that greet customers as they enter. While people cook the food, the service bots deliver the meals by “riding” bicycles along a well marked track. Using the combination of human and machine labor, the restaurant can currently serve about 100 customers at a time at 21 different tables.
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Could We Transport Our Consciousness Into Robots? →
Every Wednesday, Michio Kaku will be answering reader questions about physics and futuristic science. If you have a question for Dr. Kaku, just post it in the comments section below and check back on Wednesdays to see if he answers it.
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Robotic surgery for head and neck cancer shows promise →
Less-invasive robotic surgery for upper airway and digestive track malignant tumors is as effective as other minimally invasive surgical techniques based on patient function and survival, according to University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers.
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Jumping beats moonwalking – for a virtual robot →
A humanoid robot has just emulated Neil Armstrong’s “giant leap” – though only in a simulation. It’s one small step towards developing a robot that can handle the unusual challenges of walking on the moon.
