The potential benefits of our robotic future are matched only by the potential threats
Could films like The Terminator have a prescient message about our future? Photography: Onir (Flickr)
While here in the UK we still wonder at the marvel of automated vacuum-cleaning ‘robots’ such as the Roomba, tech-obsessed nations such as Japan and Korea are hard at work constructing incredible machines to care for the elderly, greet shoppers, and even model on catwalks.
The HRP-4C, for example, looks deceptively like a youthful female pop star – able to move her lips to sing (well, mime) and dance elaborate routines. Unveiled at Tokyo Fashion week in 2009, were it not for her shiny metal limbs it would have been difficult to tell the difference between the robot and her backing dancers.
On the more commercial end of the scale is another female-shaped robot, Korean-made Showbo, able to greet customers and explain the layout of the shop (and all yours for just £5,000). Some of the robots produced commercially have even made it over to the UK; Sony’s now-retired robot dog Aibo, touted for its ability to learn from its environment, sold over 200,000 units within its seven years of production.
Other robots may have more practical uses. South Korea, last week, announced plans to trial three robotic prison wardens to monitor inmates for ‘abnormal behaviour’, such as violence and suicide. At half a million pounds each, these unlikely robocops are no cost-cutting exercise, but the high-profile investment is touted as a further boost for Korea’s rapidly-growing robotics industry.
Yet most of those examples are notable only for their novelty, and are no more useful, or less expensive, than a human counterpart. Where robots may make a real difference in our lives is in western countries with shrinking workforces, Japan in particular faces a deficit of workers due to its strict immigration policy, the solution to which is obviously to build expensive robots. Possibly.
One big idea is that ‘partner robots’ can help the sick and the elderly live independently in their own homes without the need for living in a care home or regular visits from a helper. I’m sceptical, however: while the biggest barrier to the robotics industry is undoubtedly pricy, it seems unlikely that the idea of ‘caring robots’ will ever truly take off.
Even in robot-mad Japan, where most of this research is taking place and whose pop culture is saturated with intelligent humanoid robots (the concept explored in depth by franchises such as Astroboy, Ghost in the Shell and, erm, Transformers), hospitals where ‘caring robots’ were trialled reported that patients were less than keen.
And who can blame them? The idea of being cared for by an emotionless drone merely following a set of instructions is an unpleasant one, particularly considering how often modern technology goes wrong. Besides, a single horror story of, say, a robot dropping a hot drink over a patient could destroy the entire industry. No surprise then that initial batches of these machines have sold poorly (again, five-digit prices probably don’t help, either).
Where price no longer becomes an issue is in the military, and indeed the US have already begun using human-operated robots in combat such as the high-profile ‘Predator drone.’ These may reduce the risk of human casualties (at least, among those using the robots) but the chilling possibility of terminator-style robot soldiers, as futuristic as the concept may seem, is beginning to look more and more believable.
As for Isaac Asimov’s vision of self-aware robots with emotions, well, that’s considerably further off. Mobile, flexible machines are one thing, but truly intelligent computers are still very much science fiction. Domesticated robot helpers, however, are definitely less so; the real question being whether we’re willing to accept them into our homes. I for one would not be keen on living with a real life Bicentennial Man (particularly not one voiced by Robin Williams).
Regardless, robots are likely to start showing up in our daily lives within the near future: in shops, businesses and possibly even schools. We’re already living in a science fiction world of autonomous, reactive machines, the potential of which are equally exciting and frightening.
Rise of the machines?
Posted December 5, 2011
The potential benefits of our robotic future are matched only by the potential threats
Could films like The Terminator have a prescient message about our future? Photography: Onir (Flickr)
While here in the UK we still wonder at the marvel of automated vacuum-cleaning ‘robots’ such as the Roomba, tech-obsessed nations such as Japan and Korea are hard at work constructing incredible machines to care for the elderly, greet shoppers, and even model on catwalks.
The HRP-4C, for example, looks deceptively like a youthful female pop star – able to move her lips to sing (well, mime) and dance elaborate routines. Unveiled at Tokyo Fashion week in 2009, were it not for her shiny metal limbs it would have been difficult to tell the difference between the robot and her backing dancers.
On the more commercial end of the scale is another female-shaped robot, Korean-made Showbo, able to greet customers and explain the layout of the shop (and all yours for just £5,000). Some of the robots produced commercially have even made it over to the UK; Sony’s now-retired robot dog Aibo, touted for its ability to learn from its environment, sold over 200,000 units within its seven years of production.
Other robots may have more practical uses. South Korea, last week, announced plans to trial three robotic prison wardens to monitor inmates for ‘abnormal behaviour’, such as violence and suicide. At half a million pounds each, these unlikely robocops are no cost-cutting exercise, but the high-profile investment is touted as a further boost for Korea’s rapidly-growing robotics industry.
Yet most of those examples are notable only for their novelty, and are no more useful, or less expensive, than a human counterpart. Where robots may make a real difference in our lives is in western countries with shrinking workforces, Japan in particular faces a deficit of workers due to its strict immigration policy, the solution to which is obviously to build expensive robots. Possibly.
One big idea is that ‘partner robots’ can help the sick and the elderly live independently in their own homes without the need for living in a care home or regular visits from a helper. I’m sceptical, however: while the biggest barrier to the robotics industry is undoubtedly pricy, it seems unlikely that the idea of ‘caring robots’ will ever truly take off.
Even in robot-mad Japan, where most of this research is taking place and whose pop culture is saturated with intelligent humanoid robots (the concept explored in depth by franchises such as Astroboy, Ghost in the Shell and, erm, Transformers), hospitals where ‘caring robots’ were trialled reported that patients were less than keen.
And who can blame them? The idea of being cared for by an emotionless drone merely following a set of instructions is an unpleasant one, particularly considering how often modern technology goes wrong. Besides, a single horror story of, say, a robot dropping a hot drink over a patient could destroy the entire industry. No surprise then that initial batches of these machines have sold poorly (again, five-digit prices probably don’t help, either).
Where price no longer becomes an issue is in the military, and indeed the US have already begun using human-operated robots in combat such as the high-profile ‘Predator drone.’ These may reduce the risk of human casualties (at least, among those using the robots) but the chilling possibility of terminator-style robot soldiers, as futuristic as the concept may seem, is beginning to look more and more believable.
As for Isaac Asimov’s vision of self-aware robots with emotions, well, that’s considerably further off. Mobile, flexible machines are one thing, but truly intelligent computers are still very much science fiction. Domesticated robot helpers, however, are definitely less so; the real question being whether we’re willing to accept them into our homes. I for one would not be keen on living with a real life Bicentennial Man (particularly not one voiced by Robin Williams).
Regardless, robots are likely to start showing up in our daily lives within the near future: in shops, businesses and possibly even schools. We’re already living in a science fiction world of autonomous, reactive machines, the potential of which are equally exciting and frightening.