(or smaller) as the Raven from AeroVironment (Figure 6) or
as large as the long range jet Global Hawk/Euro Hawk
variation shown in Figure 7. These are certainly ‘robots’ by
most definitions.
Is There A True Definition
Of A Robot?
If we steer clear of the early definition of a robot that
was derived from the Czech word ‘robota’ (which is best
translated to ‘indentured slave or worker’), we can include
the several modern definitions relating to automatic
machinery, humanoid bipeds, and programmable
mechanisms. Even the first use of the term was long after
sophisticated programmable machines were being built in
Europe and America, such as the automaton from the
Franklin Institute called Maillardet’s Automaton — a carefully
restored mechanical masterpiece from the early 1800s. It is
able to draw four different drawings and write three
different poems with its pen in hand, all from its
mechanical memory. If the intricate clockwork were hidden,
a technical person of today would swear it was controlled
by a computer and many servos — is certainly a robot by
definition.
Final Thoughts
In the movie, Bicentennial Man, actor Robin Williams’
character, Andrew, desires to change from a robot to a
man — a process that takes 200 years in the film. Many of
us who build robots attempt to do the same thing — give
our robotic creations a ‘human touch,’ no matter how
small. That touch may be speech recognition, speech itself,
an arm with articulated fingers, or some sort of advanced
AI. The debate on what a robot is will now doubt remain
heated for many years, or at least until our robots
themselves can explain it to us. SV
Tom Carroll can be reached at TWCarroll@aol.com.
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