The future, we're told, will be one in which personal robots are available to all. But what form will your robotic companion take? An R2D2 style droid? A robot dog like K-9? Or a humanoid style servant along the lines of Kryten?

What will win the robot popularity wars? Pepperpots, pets or people?

According to new research, the answer will depend on your personality type. Professor Kerstin Dautenhahn and a team from the University of Hertfordshire took a robot out of the lab and into the real world to meet people. They then examined how reactions to the robot related to personality using proxemics as a metric.

Doctor Walters, a member of the team, said:

"Our research allowed us to identify two broad demographics of people who have preferences. It seems that there are those who prefer an unobtrusive robot and then others who want a cheerier presence."

The research found that in general people with an extrovert personality preferred more human-like robots whilst introverts preferred "a box on wheels with a metal head".

The commercial lesson here is that for robot companions to become a reality they will need to be available in a wide variety of forms, not just a "one size fits all" offering.

Labels: proxemics, Robots

Killer robots have appeared in countless science fiction stories and movies. Now an expert is warning that they could be "recruited" by extremists and terrorist.

Professor Noel Sharkey from the University of Sheffield has issued a stark warning that military robots could become "a threat to humanity" in the wrong hands.

What worries Pofessor Sharkey isn't the current generation of "dumb" robots which are controlled remotely. His concern is with the increasing desire of armed forces worldwide to develop "autonomous" killing machines. These needn't be as sophisticated as the "Terminator": a small GPS guided drone could be just as deadly.

It's a depressing vision of the future: one where instead of recruiting and indoctrinating suicide bombers the extremists simply download a terrorism programme to a cheaply available piece of hardware.

As Sharkey says⁽¹⁾:

"How long is it going to be before the terrorists get in on the act? With the current prices of robot construction falling dramatically and the availability of ready-made components for the amateur market, it wouldn't require a lot of skill to make autonomous robot weapons."

He also makes the chilling observation⁽²⁾ that "I have worked in artificial intelligence for decades, and the idea of a robot making decisions about human termination terrifies me"

Me too.



(1) Reuters
(2) AFP




Photo Credit: andymiah (Creative Commons)

Labels: AI, Robots, terrorism

A common feature of many visions of the future is human level Artificial Intelligence (AI) incorporated in either computers or robots. Judging by the stupidity of my PVR we're a long way from that - yet American scientist Ray Kurzweil predicts it will happen by 2029.

The BBC reports that Kurzweil made the prediction in response to the future challenges announced at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He told the BBC:

"I've made the case that we will have both the hardware and the software to achieve human level artificial intelligence with the broad suppleness of human intelligence including our emotional intelligence by 2029"

Kurzweil is, of course, famous for his book The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. He forsees a future where the boundaries between humanity and machine blur then eventually cease to exist as we move our consciousness into computers.

He may be right but I doubt we'll see it in my lifetime. Despite the exponential improvements in computing power, true AI (as opposed to domain specific expertise) seems to have made very little progress. My view is that we need some fundamental shift in understanding of the brain before we can duplicate human intelligence (let alone consciousness). That breakthrough is independent of technology - it might happen tomorrow, it might not happen for another hundred years.

Photo Credit: Gaetan Lee (Creative Commons)

Labels: AI, Kurzweil, Robots, singularity

Reasearchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Webb Research Corporation of Falmouth, Mass. have tested an ocean robot that "harvests" heat energy from the water.

The thermal glider is the first autonomous underwater vehicle to traverse great distances or stay at sea for long periods powered only by "green" energy. Instead of using a power source such as batteries the thermal glider "harvests" heat energy from thermal differences between ocean layers. This is known as "thermal stratification".

WHOI reports that the robot glider was launched in December 2007 and has been travelling under thermal power since then, crisscrossing the 4,000-meter-deep Virgin Islands Basin between St. Thomas and St Croix more than 20 times.

Oceanographer Dave Fratantoni of WHOI said:

"Gliders can be put to work on tasks that humans wouldn't want to do or cannot do because of time and cost concerns. They can work around the clock in all weather conditions."

Using renewable energy clearly has great potential for the future of robotics in general. Freed of the need for human produced power sources they could one day become truly autonomous.

Labels: Environment, ocean, Robots, WHOI

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NAOAA) is planning to use unmanned robotic aircraft to monitor extreme weather conditions. The NOAA has invested $3 million in a project to explore the possible use of such craft which are known as "Unmaned Aircraft Systems" (UAS).

NOAA research meteorologist Marty Ralph said:

"This technology has the potential to revolutionize our monitoring of the entire Earth. Data gathered by unmanned aircraft can help us understand how humans are affecting the planet and how we might mitigate the impacts of natural disasters resulting from severe weather and climate."

Three test projects will begin this summer and will monitor Atlantic and Gulf hurricanes, Arctic climate change and Pacific and West Coast storms.

Possible future missions for the robot weather drones include monitoring fisheries, tracking Greenland glaciers and providing firefighters with key wildfire data.

Labels: climate change, Environment, NOAA, Robots

A joint project between US and Japanese scientists has resulted in a robot in Japan being controlled by brain signals from America - sent over the internet!

The research, led by Professor Miguel Nicolelis of Duke University, is part of a long term attempt to restore mobility to disabled people. In this latest experiment,a monkey was trained to walk on a treadmill in the US and had a chip surgically implanted in its brain. Its brain signals were monitored and sent over the internet to Japan where they were used to control the movement of a robot.

If the technology can be adapted for human use, it could involve a disabled patient controlling artificial limbs by the use of thought.

There are obviously many other possible uses for this technology. For instance thought controlled robots could be used in disaster situations or for dangerous tasks such as bomb disposal. In the future we might even see workers regularly "jacking in" from home for jobs in unhealthy environments.

Labels: Health, Robots

A robo-teddy bear called Huggable is to be tested in the Scottish Highlands.

Huggable is designed for children and the elderly to act as a smart companion that can raise an alarm if its owner is in trouble. It will be able to recognise its owner and respond to cudles as well as monitoring the person's condition.

Huggable is being developed by MIT personal robots group and the project is supported by Highlands and Islands Enterprise. The trial of the prototypes should begin early in 2008.

Labels: companion, huggable, Robots