Showing posts with label Humanoids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Humanoids. Show all posts

Tuesday, 10 June 2014

The disadvantages of advancements in AI for human civilisation.

In the previous post we discussed about how robots have been involved in our daily life . But such involvment may lead to certain problems for the human civilisations itself. The excessive involvment of the robots in daily services which is currently being provided by humans( labour ) will lead to certain problems like unemployment and risk of AI take over ( as depicted in the terminator series).

The possible rebellion of the robots against human civilisation has already been depicted in many fictious stories. Have you ever thought what if the robot challengme its own creators (i.e the humans). Such  a problem was depicted in Asimov's short story "Reason".


Some of the problems that can be faced due to the excessive involvment of robots in the daily works are listed below :


Revolts due to unemployment
1. Unemployment

With increase in advancement in the capabilities of robots , it might post a threat to the common labour. It's been predicted that due to heavy  involvment of the artificial intelligence in industrial works , the daily labour may be severly hit due to low productional costs and high precision of the robots. Thus the heavy involvment of robo's in industrial work has lead to widespread revolts due to loss of people's job.In developing countries like India where unemployment is a major social issue , the excessive involvment of the robots in industrial applications might further worsen the situation.


2. Terrorist Threat : 

The advancement in the field of robotics may act as a potential terrorist weapon. The advanced humanoids may be designed to carry widespread attacks by terror outfits. Plus the robots may be designed to self destruct after carrying out the attacks , thus eliminating any evidence. 
Robots : Potential terror threats


Apart from the unemployment and the terrorist threats  the major issue that could arise if the robots stop following the 3 Laws is :


3. Defiance of orders and the laws : 

2070 : Robots vs Humans ??
Imagine a robot , who denies the fact that he is bided by certain laws and goes ramapant against the human civilisation , killing them all considering them inferior. Catastrophic yet? This is called the Frankestein effect , where the creation goes against its creators , threatning their existence in this world. This is a major issue that many scientists have talked about regarding advancement in Artificial  technology . If  a robot is made capable to have emotions & to think like a human being , do you think will he prefer serving you and not instead try rule you? An army of such rampant robots againt the human race will surely bring an end to our civilisation. Though one might argue that the 3 laws have been created to have such a situation under check , but nothing is fool proof! What if things go wrong. Theses and experiments will fail and humans would be on war with its own creation. Making a robot more similar like a human may sound fascinating and an achievement to us , but human will never agree to do the work we make a robot do.

    The word robot was coined by artist Josef Čapek , initially coining the term ‘laboři’, from the Latin ‘labor’.  He discussed this with his brother, Josef, and Josef suggested ‘roboti’, which gave rise to the English ‘robot’.  ‘Roboti’ derives from the Old Church Slavanic ‘rabota’, meaning ‘servitude’, which in turn comes from ‘rabu’, meaning ‘slave’.
History is itself a proof that slavery among humans lead to widespread revolts , independence struggles. Some took the voilent way , some achieved it by peacefat to similar to Humans? And it being more superior to the human race would surely lead to D - Day. If the "Robot" is made capable enough to think and realise everything , won't his actions be somehow similar to a human?




Well the talk about the advancement in robotics can have many theses . Different people would have different suggestions. Though true that a robot does help us by making our lives easy in many aspects , but when we consider the above mentioned points we realise maybe AI has major drawbacks and the steps towards growth should be taken one at at a time.


In the next topic we will be covering about : The basics of working of a simple robot . 

        

Monday, 9 June 2014

Robotics in Our Daily life

So in the previous post , we already mentioned about what exactly a robot is. But for those viewing this for the first time , let us mention it again.


"A robot is a mechanical or virtual artificial agent, usually an electro mechanical machine that is guided by a computer program or electronic circuit "

So where do such mechanical agents come in use? Look around yourself , do you see any robo around you? Of course not much , if you are in some developing country. But the growth of robotics in people's daily need hasn't been much rapid. We , Neurobotics India keeping the above mentioned factor in mind are working to diminish this gap between the Humans and the AI.

Though not well known , there are a lot of robots that have been made to assist us in our daily Life.



Autom : The Healthcare coach

1. Healthcare Robots :


A number of robots have been designed , keeping health issues in mind. These robots act as your daily assistance and helps you to be fit. 


Autom is a well known healthcare robot that keeps you motivated.The more you tell it about yourself, the more customised its responses will be, as it learns over time and gets to know you.




HAL : Hybrid assisted Limb
HAL is another robotic technology meant for the handicapped.HAL stands for Hybrid Assisted Limb, and is made by the Japanese firm Cyberdene. It responds to bio-signals detected on the wearer’s skin that are sent to the muscles, which make the robotic limbs move.

 



2. House Hold Help:


Navibot CornerClean:  
Samsung has launched a new robot called Samsung Navibot CornerClean.There have been robot vacuum cleaners before, but this is the most advanced yet. It features a pop-out brush, for getting into those difficult-to-clean corners.It’s smart, too. Using a built-in camera, it captures 15 images per second of its surroundings, effectively mapping your home. It’ll use this to calculate the most efficient cleaning path for each room, as well as avoid bumping into obstacles or falling down stairs.


Wheel Me : Everybody needs a massage after a tiresome day. Imagine having a robot who gives you a perfect one? DreamBot’s WheeMe fits in the palm of your hand, and drives over your back and shoulders, massaging you with its serrated rubber wheels and rotor finger. It won’t fall off thanks to its sensors letting it know where it is, so you can just lie there and relax. It’ll turn itself off after 15 minutes, or if you want to stop it, just sit up, and WheeMe will switch off.





3. Humanoids :

Many of us have heard about humanoids. The word itself explains us about it , A droid which is an almost perfect replica of human intelligence.

The term first appeared in 1912 to refer to fossils which were morpho-logically similar to, but not identical with, those of the human skeleton.
Some of the world famous Humanoids are :

Honda's ASIMO

  • ASIMO

   ASIMO , which stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility is a humanoid designed by the Honda Corp ,which says it is the “world’s most advanced humanoid robot.” Honda’s website explains that ASIMO can run and walk — even on uneven slopes and surfaces. It can climb stairs, reach for and grasp objects and it also has facial recognition.With its camera eyes, the robot “maps its environment” and can register objects, avoiding collisions with both stationary and moving objects.The current version of ASIMO is more than 20 years in the making, with 11 robotic predecessors. Honda first started working on creating a walking robot in 1986.                                                                           

  • iCub

iCub is a 1 metre high humanoid robot testbeds for research into the field of  artificial intelligence.It was designed by the RobotClub Consortium of several European universities and built by Italian Institute of Technology, and is now supported by other projects such as iTALK..


iCub: It's not just a kid.
       

Dimensionally, the iCub looks like a 3 -5 year old child.The iCub has the ability of crawling, using visual guidance with optic marker on the floor. It can even solve various complex 3D mazes. The robot has already showed the capabality of playing sports like archery , darts . It can be trained to hit the centre of the target.The robot using its biometric fingures can also grasp objects like balls,plastic bottles etc.


  • TOPIO :

TOPIO : Taking sports to the next level
Ever thought of a robot playing Ping pong? Welcome to the 21st century , where artificial intelligence is doing the impossible. TOPIO ("TOSY Ping Pong Playing Robot") is a bipedal humanoid robot designed to play table tennis against a human being. It has been developed since 2005 by TOSY, a robotics firm in Vietnam. It can easily recognise fast moving objects , and has a fast and accurate moment control.



So isnt it amazing how Artificial Intelligence is taking over everyhwhere? But as the legend says excess of everything is bad for you , the advancement in robotics may itself be a threat to the human civilisation.
In our next post we will be covering : The possible downsides of advancements in AI on human civilisation.


Do you want us to post tutorials for making basic autonomous robots? Views and Comments will be appreciated.