Hollywood has not had the best representation of what a robotic future would look like. There are countless examples of a violent robotic uprising, leaving the human race to in a dystopian society fighting for their lives against the menacing robots.
Examples that come to mind are the ever prominent Terminator, where SkyNet makes robots sentient and begins a war against robots. Or even the matrix, where robots thirst for electricity is so large that they begin to farm humans for electricity. Then there’s examples like I-Robot, where at first the robots make quality of life much better and everyone is happy, however, queue eventual robotic uprising.
But these are tremendous works of fiction, and our technological prowess in the field of robotics is nowhere near the functionality of the robots depicted in these films. Or is it?
An “Emerging” Technology
What is it that makes robots possible? Artificial intelligence, through extensive computer programming and feats of engineering, as well as using various sensors so a robot knows how to react. You may not know it, but there have been robots in society for quite some time now; just not the kind from the movies. A company called I-Robot (not related to the film), has a robotic vacuum called the Roomba. It uses sensors to vacuum an entire floor, and not bump into anything enough to damage it. Additionally, electric car company Tesla Motors builds its unparalleled quality automobiles from scratch using over 36 robots. The robots in question are created by German robotics company KUKA. One of their most impressive robots is definitely the KR AGILUS, which is something that will likely be seen in the mass production of automobiles all across the board. This robot is extremely smart, and it can even play ping pong. Check this video out:
The editing of the video makes it hard to make out if the robot is actually as quick as it seems, but regardless, it’s capable of playing ping pong which is a feat in itself. However, the robots mentioned aren’t really impacting the day to day interactions of society; in fact it is unlikely to see the KR AGILUS outside of a factory. What I’m getting at is the average citizen will not have interactions with these, and communities will not be intertwined with robot interaction. Will that ever actually happen, and to what extent?
Unmanned Drones
Now, at first thought on hearing “Unmanned Drones”, what comes to mind is generally something that you’d hope is not seen on a day to day basis – or ever. What I’m referring to is the US (and other countries), use of unmanned drones in the military. According to this article from The Guardian, UAV’s (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) are pretty terrifying and have some ramifications when used irresponsibly as weapons. You don’t feel the same way when you’re sitting at a desk controlling a plane bombing a potential “threat” as opposed to actually being there. The source for the article expresses the guilt, and this is a dangerous area in the field of robotics.
However, these are not the unmanned drones that you would see whizzing overhead in a busy metropolis (ideally). What is much more likely is to see the future of mail and delivery: introducing Amazon Prime Air. The idea is that an unmanned aerial vehicle will grab its payload from an Amazon warehouse, and ship it to you by flying navigating itself through a city, delivering it to your front door in under 30 minutes or less. The video from Amazon does the service a little more justice:
Amazon boasts that if they can get through the legal trouble from the Federal Aviation Administration, that these could could be hitting the skies by as early as 2015. This actually changes the mail game on a social and economic level. For starters, how long will it take the average person to get used to little helicopter drones flying overhead delivering packages, without distracting or feeling a little bit of paranoia? When commercial airplanes first flew through the sky, there was general fright and concern. Additionally, the job of a postal worker will eventually become obsolete, which is a fair criticism of any technological automation. Only time will tell.
On the topic of Amazon, the tech giant has been dipping it’s feet into other areas of robotics as well. Specifically, the acquisition of Kiva Systems, a robotics company that specializes in warehouse management. Instead of having a worker walk to a storage area in the warehouse to retrieve a package, the robots know the map of where each product is (stored in a remote cloud database), and retrieve and bring it to the worker. This is a much more efficient method, and it makes perfect sense as to why Amazon bought it. The amount of paid workers needed within a massive Amazon warehouse will decrease sufficiently, thus boosting profits for the company. This is just another example of the feats these robots can do for our society, and additionally the potential negative impact on the job market through automation.
Google: The Tech Super-Giant
The question whenever a tech company is doing something new innovative: what is Google doing in response (or just doing period)? The answer wont surprise you; Google’s doing big things.
Their latest acquisition is the outstandingly innovative, and sometimes eerie robotics company, <a href="http://www.bostondynamics.com/"Boston Dynamics. The stuff that the company is doing is just flat out – for lack of a better term – awesome. Whether it’s the highly mobile, RC car sized Sand Flea, capable of jumping 30 feet into the air and stabilizing itself. Or if it’s the heavy duty LS3, capable of carrying 400 lbs and does not need to be controlled due to it’s “follow the leader” capabilities.
The eerie portion of Boston Dynamics revolves around 2 things. Firstly, their humanoid Atlas robot which, for some, looks strikingly similar to the Terminator robot seen above. This is literally the closest thing to having the physical capabilities of a human. There are other humanoid robots, like Asimo, the robot created by Honda. These 2 robots are strikingly different though, mainly in size and as mentioned before, physicality. Specifically, Atlas can navigate itself through difficult rocky terrain, leading into the next point.
Before Boston Dynamics was purchased by Google, where did it receive it’s funding? The capabilities of these robots are extremely useful in military endeavors, and it is thus no surprise that they are backed and funded by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). It is unknown whether these are being tested in the military yet or not, but on the Boston Dynamics webpage, it says they will supply the government with models of Atlas by “summer of 2013”. Which has already passed. This strikes a lot of humanitarian arguments, similar with to those associated with UAV’s. Is it civil to use robots in warfare? Sure, it’s safer for the people who have robots, but when it comes to morality, how will robots be able to draw the line? This is a realistic argument that will be made prevalent in the near future.
Back to Google. The underlying question remains as to what Google is going to do with robots? There is plenty speculation, but it seems apparent that Google will not be doing anything military related. In fact, according to this article, their robot venture will initially not be “consumer based”. Although, with the amount of robot technology Google will amass within the next 5 years, it is intriguing to see what they will come out with, if anything.
It makes you wonder if the robotic utopia seen in the movie I-Robot is actually possible. Having Atlas robot’s as servants that help with daily tasks, Amazon Prime Air delivering parcels across the skyline, even potentially little Honda Asimo’s babysitting and entertaining children. With all this research and development in the field of robotics, one thing is for certain: they will be integrated into our daily lives. Skeptics and paranoid people alike will be hesitant, but sooner than later, humanity and robots will co exist in the future.
Here’s a test of Atlas’s humanoid balance:
Computers in the World 