OK, so I mentioned in class on Friday that I would show you some videos of robots to see how far we've come in the field, and to illustrate the concept of the Uncanny Valley that we will talk about later in the semester (so I'm not going to go into detail about it here, although you can read about it at the link).
The robots I am showing are not the familiar or cute ones that we see in movies, such as R2-D2, Johnny 5, or Wall-E, or even the ones we occasionally use in our houses, like the Roomba. The ones you will see below are the ones that are attempting to narrow the gap between human and robot, and work towards the goal of integrating robots into society and letting them act as helpful companions.
As you will see, we're not there yet, but we're getting eerily close. Take a look at the videos below, see what you think, and offer your feedback in the comments. And remember, you can only make something that isn't human look human to a point, after which it actually starts to look *less* human. And we'll learn why later.
These robots are pretty scary; I can see scientists in the next few decades trying to intergrade them into our lives. My curiousity lies with why these scientists decided to go with a human-like design. Also, what is the ultimate purpose of making these robots seem like they have real emotions. I kind of understand that they're trying to bridge the gap between robots and humans, but why and to serve what purpose? I'm also interested in seeing the advantages as well as the repercussions of these robots if they do become intergraded into our lives.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Thu Thuy, the human like robots are not only scary, but rather creepy. I too would like to know the ultimate purpose for designing them to appear human and mimic emotion. It reminds me of the Borg on Star Trek...I will not be assimilated!
ReplyDeleteFrom the technology of robotics to cloning is frightening notion that man might succeed in creating a new species all together. i believe somethings are best left the way they are. I believe human emotions and feeling are inate charactersitics of humanbeings that can not be replicated.
ReplyDeleteI agree with each of you that the advancement of technological robots is frightening, and a little bit creepy. The type of technology that has become this advanced is amazing, but I feel that scientists should be careful how much they try to produce the robots to have human features and replicated emotions. Like we discussed in class, when something is aware of their existence they can become extremely defensive and want to protect themselves. Just that alone frightens me to how much technology could be pushed, and if it can be for the bad or for the good.
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