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Robots: The good, the bad and the ugly

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Do they help or do they hinder, and where are the worlds of robotics and artificial intelligence headed?

By Maggie Holland, 7 Aug 2009 at 17:27

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The robots are coming and we’re all going to die. That’s what some of the recent media stories would have you believe.

Noel Sharkey, Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at the University of Sheffield, recently suggested that we are in danger of becoming a victim of our own success when it comes to robotics and AI. Quite literally.

If we don’t carefully monitor what we’re doing in the field of military robotics, innocent people could be hurt. Of course, media momentum gathered and now there are probably people panic-buying bread and long-life milk and heading speedily to their nearest bunker to hide from these death hungry bots.

IT PRO contacted Sharkey to get some context on his comments and he highlighted the fact that robots aren’t all bad. Indeed, far from it as there are many good things that robots and AI are doing for mankind.

Quite a lot of hot air

“There is a certain amount of hype and sensationalism about ‘killer robots’ and terminators. However, there are major problems with military robots currently being used to exert lethal force and some very responsible journalism about it. My worry about the hype is that it can mask some real concerns about the protection of innocents. However, that are many thousands of military robots doing a great job in bomb disposal in the Middle East and saving many of our soldiers’ lives,” he said.

“Outside of the ethical issues, I see robotics technology being a great benefit to the human race in [many] ways. The standard robot used in the manufacturing and automotive industries is outnumbered nowadays by service robots about five to one. These are robots that do the three Ds – dull, dirty and dangerous work like cleaning sewers, domestic duties like vacuuming and window cleaning – even picking fruit and pumping gas,” he added.

“Some of the greatest technologies are now in medicine – particularly with robot surgeons. These are operated remotely by humans and as they get more advanced, they will be become portable and save many lives by getting to emergency sites so that people do not have to be rushed to hospital.”

Of course, robotics and AI are not new concepts. Far from it. They’ve been around for years, helping many industries conduct both arduous and repetitive tasks and even those that human skills could not comprehend or handle competently.

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Robotics are part of our world

Robotics nowadays is quite helpful. You can find them everywhere, in medical industries, corporations and even household. Spykee is a one of those robots that are out in the market. Kids are going to want to get their hands on a Spykee. Spykee is a remote controlled robot, that's made by the Erector toy company. Erector, although now owned and shipped worldwide by a European corporation, was one of the most popular lines (and still is) of construction toys. Spykee is a small robot, under a foot tall, that connects via WiFi to a computer, and can be controlled remotely – it also can record covert surveillance video, and even play music. It will even return automatically to its recharging station. That's a heck of toy – and a lot of kids would think about asking for a parental cash advance to get their own Spykee. More details on: http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/08/12/erector-spykee-spy-robot/

By DangeloH on Friday Aug 14