ways that a multitude of jobs
require.
This suit is not powered like
a robotic exoskeleton, but its
construction and joint
configurations can be readily
applied to a similar motorized
system. It may not exactly be a
robot, but it is certainly a ‘good’
approach to helping workers.
Robots Building
Robots
The scary scenario of robots
building robots to overtake humans
has long been a staple in science
fiction, and even today intelligent
futurists see a negative side to this
situation. A research project at the
University of Cambridge has
developed a ‘mother’ robot that
cannot only build its own children
robots, but synthesizes the process of
natural selection to improve their
capabilities with each generation.
The robot is shown in Figure 15
with the small blue blocks that are her
‘generations.’
Is it AI? No. “Natural selection is
basically reproduction, assessment,
reproduction, assessment, and so on,”
says lead researcher Dr Fumiya Iida of
Cambridge University’s Department of
Engineering. “That’s essentially
what this robot is doing. We can
actually watch the improvement
and diversification of the
species.” Is robots replicating
themselves “good?” Hmmm.
Final Thoughts
I did not want to list a
bunch of different robots in this
article as examples of ‘good’
robots, nor did I want to cover
every category. I wanted to share
just how each of us might view
the actual benefits for society
that each new robot might offer.
The bot shown in Figure 17
looking through a microscope is really
not good as a researcher. Today’s AI
and advanced computers would do a
far better job of microscopic analysis
with the visual data fed directly to a
visual scene analysis program, rather
than from a robot with its hands
trying to focus a microscope.
The same goes for the robot in
Figure 18. Surely, that job is better
suited to a human! Or, is it? SV
Figure 16. Evolution mother robot makes
her children.
Figure 17. Futurologist Peter Cochrane
gives us a view of a robot and a
microscope.
Figure 18. Not a job for me!
SERVO 03.2016 65
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