Robots Take Over the World

Joseph Lopez

Friday, September 26, 2008

Sometime back in 400BC, a Greek philosopher named Archytas was reputed for building a mechanical pigeon powered by steam and capable of flight. Although it wasn’t like the intelligent humanoids we conceptualize in present times, it marked the first robotic creation we ever made.

Shortly after, the Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote:

“If every tool, when ordered, or even of its own accord, could do the work that befits it... then there would be no need either of apprentices for the master workers or of slaves for the lords.”

...hinting how nice it would be to have a few robots around.

In popular culture, the first intelligent robots were almost exclusively fictional. Classic cartoons like ‘The Jetson’ portrayed artificial machines with human-like emotions. Although this level of artificial intelligence is yet to be achieved, we do show consistent progress with all the simple robots we have out on the market today.

In the early 2000s, everything changed with the introduction of robotic vacuum cleaners, most prominently the Roomba from iRobot. This little cleaning machine was the first widely adopted household robot due to its effectiveness and quality. Although it didn’t appear as a bipedal human-like robot, it did take a step forward in robotic technology for the entire world. The Roomba operates with a push of a button depending on how you want it to vacuum the floor. When the “clean, “spot”, or “max” button is pressed, the Roomba begins its work. It will basically vacuum your house and take care of that chore and save you time. You can purchase your very own Roomba at many electronic outlets and online stores for about $300.00.

In addition to the Roomba, which is a household cleaning robot, there are many other types of robots out there. For example, “home courier” robots are used for transport of objects from within a household such as clothes, toys, dishes from the table to the dishwasher, etc. In 2006, Sharp announced the development of a humanoid robot that clears dishes from the table and puts them into a dishwasher. The robot (measuring 95x50x45cm) opens the door of the dishwasher, takes hold of teacups, rice bowls and plates, places them in the unit and closes the door.

Furthermore, outdoor robots operate outside of the house and assist you with gardening work. Like Friendly Robotics’ RoboMower, this robot mows your lawn much like a Roomba vacuums your floors. Invented in Israel, the RoboMower is the best-selling robotic lawn mower in the world. It comes with a rechargeable lead-acid battery pack. It allows you to program it to mow around the perimeter of the lawn and inside the lawn using infrared sensors.

There are also robots out there that are not indented for work and instead are used for entertainment. Like Sony’s Aibo, this pet robot dog emulates the character of a real dog to entertain its owners. It obviously isn’t as smart as a real dog, but you can command it to “come”, “sit” and “lay down”.

Like entertainment robots, social robots’ main objective is social interaction with humans. If you remember the Furby, this toy robot was extremely popular amongst all ages in all parts of the world. The little furry robot could sense your presence with the motion detector in its forehead and act upon many different types of stimulation.Also, the Wakamaru is a humanoid robot designed to provide company for the elderly and less mobile people, made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Although artificial intelligence is still milestones away from perfection, they are spastically working towards a new breed of machines that could eventually think for themselves.

Robots Take Over the World

Robots Take Over the World

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