by Playfuls Staff |
19th February 2007
Isaac Asimov’s famous novel I, Robot (and Will Smith’s SF movie that imitated it) might soon find roots in reality: scientists estimate that by 2030 robots will replace humans in many activities.[more]
The popular ’80 TV show staring David Hasselhoff and his “intelligent car” KITT could soon step out of pure fantasy and become daily routine for most of us, scientists say.
Primitive “robotic driving” can still be found today in modern vehicles. For example the French car-maker Citroen is already offering a safety-package that includes a system which automatically warns a reckless/sleepy driver of the fact that he/she “stepped” on the continuous line that “splits” the road (the system is called Lane Departure Warning System).
Mercedes-Benz offers for its S-series (better known as the S-limousines) another safety system that for example automatically brings the car back to the road if the driver pulls violently the steering-wheel in one direction (due to this innovative system, the S-series has been nick-named the “car with reflexes”).
But some of the country’s leading robotics experts gathered Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science say this is just the beginning.
Home-robots are popular especially in Japan, where large corporations like Matsushita Electric or Toyota have developed robots that can walk, run, climb stairs naturally, play trumpet or even dance in a synchronous manner. Soon, such robots will be ubiquitous and will cost less, according to scientists.
"Home robots will happen a lot faster than you think," said roboticist David Calkins of San Francisco State University. The future home-robots include a huggable teddy bear that tutors your kids in Spanish or French; an autonomous car that drives you to work while you nap, or eat or prepare your power-point presentation; a Chihuahua-sized pet dinosaur that learns whether you like to cuddle, play or be left alone; a computer that can move its screen around to help your posture or match your task or mood; and a party-bot that greets your guests at the door, introduces them in case you've forgotten their names, and entertains them with music jokes and finger food.
The next-generation of robots, which are slated to debut in just a few years, will be able to re-charge autonomously when needed and will be able to recognize a human’s mood based on advanced voice, face, pattern and emotion recognition software. This will also prompt a “natural” and appropriate response to that mood, such a “smile”. Grasping procedures for robots will be improved and walking or even running abilities will far exceed what we can see in today’s most advanced prototypes.
"Most of these technologies already exist now," Calkins said. "But they need to be brought together."
One of the major areas where robotics researchers concentrate is the help provided to people with certain disabilities and to elderly. Apart from becoming a “nice” companion to lonely or depressive people (loneliness has been recently cited as one of the risk factors for developing Alzheimer at old age), home-robots will be able to investigate remotely the owner’s life-signs and transmit them to emergency services or to doctors, will recognize if the owner has fallen and call for help, will open doors and reach items for him, or simply be his partner for a game of cards.
Machines that perform some of these functions already exist in nursing homes, but Calkins foresees a robotic explosion in the lives of the elderly and handicapped in the near future.
Blind people will be able to sit behind the steering-wheel of a car without any danger, because cars will be able drive alone, based on the software onboard. Cars would be navigating, steering, obeying traffic lights, and recognizing and avoiding obstacles and other cars.
"When cars can finally drive themselves, it will be a fundamental change for all of us," said Sebastian Thrun, an electrical engineer and computer scientist at Stanford University. Thrun is one of the leaders of the Stanford Racing Team that won the Grand Challenge autonomous vehicle race in 2005. Stanford's modified Volkswagen Touareg SUV, named "Stanley," successfully navigated 175 miles through Nevada's desert in less than 10 hours without any human help. "In the past it was sufficient for a vehicle just to perceive the environment”, said Thrun.
"The new challenge will be to understand the environment. The robot must be able to recognise another car, to understand that it is moving and that it will interact with it as it gets closer."
Thrun’s team unveiled a concept called Junior (in fact a modified Volkswagen Passat wagon) which is designed to work in an urban environment with traffic laws and other vehicles. The car is destined to participate at an autonomous vehicle challenge in November 2007, called Urban Challenge. Junior has 360-degree, three-dimensional vision provided by six video cameras, GPS and bumper-mounted lasers to help it gather information about its surroundings. Its computer "brain" is four times as powerful as Stanley’s was.
"Today we can drive about 100 miles (160 kilometres) before human assistance is necessary, by 2010 I expect this to go 1000 miles (1160 kilometres), by 2020 up to a million miles (1.6 million kilometres)," Thrun said.
"By 2030 you'll be able to see them on the highway, with a driving reliability that will exceed humans by orders of magnitude.”
"We believe this technology will affect all of us. It is going to have enormous significance for people who can't drive because of disabilities or because they are ill or impaired."
Mr. Thrun’s belief is that robot-driven vehicles would be used in war zones before they are seen in everyday civilian environments.
"I think they’ll be on the battlefield by around 2015," he said. "It is going to make sense to use them in situations such as convoys, or in hostile environments where there is danger to personnel."
