June 18, 2006
Trust Me, I'm A Robot
The latest issue of the Technology Quarterly published by the Economist, presents a special article on how robots will learn to do no harm. They cite a number of industrial accidents where robots have inadvertently injured or killed humans.
They point out that many of the accidents would not have happened in a world in which robot behavior was governed by the Three Laws of Robotics drawn up by Isaac Asimov, a science-fiction writer. The laws appeared in "I, Robot", a book of short stories published in 1950 but decades later the laws, designed to prevent robots from harming people either through action or inaction remain in the realm of fiction.
Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics
Let’s start with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics.... We have:
One, a robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
Two, a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
And three, a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws. Isaac Asimov, 1950
According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe's World Robotics Survey, in 2002 the number of domestic and service robots more than tripled, nearly outstripping their industrial counterparts. By the end of 2003 there were more than 600,000 robot vacuum cleaners and lawn mowers—a figure predicted to rise to more than 4m by the end of next year. Japanese industrial firms are racing to build humanoid robots to act as domestic helpers for the elderly, and South Korea has set a goal that 100% of households should have domestic robots by 2020. In light of all this, it is crucial that we start to think about safety and ethical guidelines now, said Henrik Christensen, chairman of the European Robotics Network at the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.
Some Recent Advances in Robotics
Just how far have we come with robotics? A review of a news search in the last week reveals that our science has progressed substantially. Not quite as far as the sophistication of our science fiction movies but recent robot news demonstrates that we have added functionality, mobility, touch and many more behaviors to robotics today.
Touch
University of Nebraska researchers announced an invention that gives robots a highly refined sense of touch. Medicine is the most likely application for the technology, The high-resolution touch sensor could allow surgeons to tell at the level of a single layer of cells whether or not they have excised a cancerous tumor in its entirety.
Sports
Robotic Shortstop
A four-wheel drive robotic short stop capable of reaching reach speeds of about 30 feet per second uses a motion-sensing camera to determine when a ball is put into play, and an on-board computer system that calculates trajectory. Using that information, the cyber-fielder hurries to gather the ball with a foam pad -- a glove is a feature to be added in the future. It boasts an impressive .750 fielding percentage. Better than many major league infielders.
Classroom Substitute
Vincent is taking part in the early stages of an experiment that could revolutionize the teaching of seriously sick children worldwide. Using technology developed by scientists at two Canadian universities, the robot pairs enable children confined to their beds not only to continue their studies, but also to maintain contact with their friends and peers.
Speed-Reading Robots
Deep in the basement of the Stanford University library, hidden among the volumes of Homer and Shakespeare, is Stanford's fastest reader. It is a robot, invented in Switzerland, that can scan up to 1,000 pages an hour. It turns the pages itself, and even blows air to separate them when they're stuck together.
New Mars Mission Team Member: Robot BridgetScientists recently unveiled a robotic rover vehicle nicknamed Bridget that will be the centrepiece of the most advanced attempt to find life on Mars. The 10ft by 6ft, six-wheeled vehicle, called an "autonomous robotic scientist", will be able to patrol the surface of Mars carrying sophisticated equipment and panoramic cameras, enabling it to operate without the need for detailed supervision from ground control
Surgical robot
West Virginia University Hospital now has a new tool in its arsenal to fight the disease, a surgical robot officials say offers patients advantages over and better results than traditional surgery. Instead of one large incision, the robot, called the da Vinci, uses several tiny openings, cameras and three-dimensional imaging to make the surgery “more precise,” according to hospital officials.
Diagnosis from the Inside
Worm-inspired robot crawls through intestines. A robot designed to crawl through the human gut by mimicking the wriggling motion of an undersea worm has been developed by European scientists. It could one day help doctors diagnose disease by carrying tiny cameras through patients' bodies.
As the Economist article elucidates, our substantial progress in robotics needs to be tempered with safety. In addition to the possibility of robots posing a possible physical danger, could they be dangerous to humans in less direct ways, by bringing out their worst aspects, from warfare to pedophilia? As Ron Arkin, a roboticist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, puts it, “if you kick a robotic dog, are you then more likely to kick a real one?" Roboticists can do their best to make robots safe—but they cannot reprogram the behavior of their human masters.
Posted by rsk at June 18, 2006 05:07 PM