Furture of Robotics

very interesting, especially the frogs comments. maybe i should get out of the ufo-section more often.

"We are figuring out how to make robot architecture both act and 'think,' using learned and acquired skills." - Collins, a senior research engineer in the Georgia Tech Research Institute's Electronic Systems Laboratory.

The Furture is Near...

I noticed a couple of people noting the part where I said that the human form is not a feasable structure to make a robot with... I didnt mean that we CANT do it... doing that would be very simple... but 2 legs are REALLY inefficient. High maintenance, and quite unreliable, regardless of how or what you make them out of.

Even though the world is designed for humans, most of it is designed with wheelchairs in mind, this paves the way for the the more efficient wheeled units to be mobile.

With the power required to maintain a constant balance on 2 legged units, it actually would require less power to use 4 legs on a walking device... which still is no where near as efficient as a wheeled unit, but it could be used in places that are less stable.

And no, I'm not closed minded, I would make a 2 legged unit, simply because I can... but I'm a realist in knowing that its inefficient.

[edit on 6-7-2006 by johnsky]

Hmmmm.......
Super robots that repair, think, procreate, and are stronger then us ???

Jesus CHrist ! am I the only one who saw terminator ?
*runs to phone book..looks up conner*

Originally posted by D15t0rT
"We are figuring out how to make robot architecture both act and 'think,' using learned and acquired skills." - Collins, a senior research engineer in the Georgia Tech Research Institute's Electronic Systems Laboratory.

The Furture is Near...

Well, sure. There hasn't been a lot of progress in the artificial intelligence field because psychology and sociology have always been looked down on as "soft" sciences by the gearheads building machines and computers. As a result, what you've mostly had are a bunch of people running around trying to build a birdhouse out of railroad ties -- people who think that if they throw enough memory and computational speed at the problem, intelligence will just spontaneously spring into being.

But it won't be too long before we're able to construct machines that are both emotional and intelligent (the two go together). Then the trick will be motivating them and convincing them to do what we want. What kind of reward can you give an immortal machine consciousness? More electricity? A nice, shiny new case?

Originally posted by Enkidu
What kind of reward can you give an immortal machine consciousness? More electricity? A nice, shiny new case?

If robots have the ability to reason..Will they realize that some Bots are better than them?..Will they envy one another?..will they fight?
Emotion for a robot is alittle far fetch..it shouldnt have to have emotionial abilities to figure out what letter a certain symbol represents..

Originally posted by D15t0rT
Emotion for a robot is alittle far fetch..it shouldnt have to have emotionial abilities to figure out what letter a certain symbol represents.

Why? Why do little children learn to speak so quickly, and recognize simple objects and symbols? It's because it doesn't take long for them to associate learning those things with the power to manipulate their environment to get things they want. And what do they want? They want things that make them FEEL good, like food and loving contact with their parents.

Emotion, which provides motivation, is critical for functional intelligence, whether it's artificial or natural. And unlike what you might have been told about Commander Data from Star Trek, emotion shouldn't be that difficult to emulate in an artificial system. It doesn't matter whether the emotion is "real," because we can't even tell if another human's emotions are real. It only matters if the robot thinks it's real, and it has a real effect. Programming an instinct toward positive reinforcement should be relatively easy. In fact, we have all the pieces to do it now, we just have to put them all together.

Here is some interesting stuff...
Can Robots Have Emotions?