rss feedGreetings, earthlings: Do not fear robots or the Honda video about them
I’ve joked about this before but if a robot can ever make delicious, hot, chili-laden mapo tofu – the way the cook at Old Sichuan in Kent, Wash. can dish it up – I’ll truly be impressed.
And of course, a bit perplexed.
But hey, who can complain when a dish of garlicky, spicy tofu sits before you on a blustery, stormy day with winds whipping in the sky and temperatures dropping?
Whether it’s done by ASIMO, the Honda robot, or humans, the successful making of mouthwatering mapo tofu reminds me of that saying by Deng Xiaoping, the late Chinese paramount leader:
It doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white,” he was fond of saying, “as long as it catches mice.
What I like about this Honda-backed video is the commentary from various Honda executives and professors about robots – in this case, ASIMO – and their place in the human-populated world.
Certainly, there is a point of view – that robots are not the crazed machines of mayhem portrayed in science fiction movies, that there are technology transfer opportunities and overall benefits, such as its assisted walking device - that I think is worth considering.
As Wendell Wallach, Yale University’s chair of the technology and ethics research group, noted in the video:
Part of the fascination with robots is just that. It’s just another way of reflecting…of trying to discern who we are.
Said Mark Rowlands, a University of Miami philosophy professor:
It’s kind of like a mirror that we hold up to ourselves. Whatever robots turn out to be will largely be a function of us.
Explained Robin Murphy, director of the Center for Robot Assisted Search and Rescue at Texas A&M University, who supports mobiles vehicles helping humans after a disaster:
I think the world is a better place with robots and we need more of them.
My sense is that the goal of this video was to introduce robots – specifically ASIMO – to residents in the United States, a place where, in general, the notion of automated machines is tied to movies in which humans compete for survival against artificial intelligence.
Honda also is using the Internet to tell people in the United Kingdom about ASIMO.
The video clip above - with its images of ASIMO – works on many levels. It’s captivating. The ideas from the experts are logical.
The only catch is that Honda’s other Web sites have posted assorted clips of ASIMO in action – including having the astronaut-like robot introduce the Honda Insight, a hybrid vehicle, last year by, um, dancing.
To really capture the hearts and minds of humans in the United States – especially on the West Coast, where fuel conservation, the environment and technology all go hand in hand – the company could have built an introduction of ASIMO around more of its inner workings.
My sense is that people in the Seattle area, San Francisco and the Silicon Valley would take note.
Keep in mind, that robots are part of daily life in many countries.
In Seattle, for instance, Swedish Medical Center operates a large $4-million robotic arm – dubbed the CyberKnife – which shoots radiation at precise angles at tumors.
At MIT, a graduate student used his brainpower to create TOFU, a fuzzy robot. In fact, MIT has its own Personal Robots Group.
And IBM pursued a goal of having a computer compete against humans on the popular game show, Jeopardy!
Many of us are familiar with iRobot, which was co-founded by a MIT computer science graduate and makes the popular automated vacuum cleaner that can get dust and dirt off your floor while you’re out shopping.
The company makes various types of eye-catching robots, including the Looj – which, get this – can help clean your gutters.
What I think the Honda video overlooked, though, were some serious questions raised by robot and artificial intelligence experts and computer scientists last year at a California meeting.
John Markoff of The New York Times wrote about the meeting and raised not only the impressive aspects of robots but also how humans – particularly bad actors – might use them and how people will need to interact and coexist with them:
While the computer scientists agreed that we are a long way from Hal, the computer that took over the spaceship in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” they said there was legitimate concern that technological progress would transform the work force by destroying a widening range of jobs, as well as force humans to learn to live with machines that increasingly copy human behaviors.
He also pointed out:
They focused particular attention on the specter that criminals could exploit artificial intelligence systems as soon as they were developed. What could a criminal do with a speech synthesis system that could masquerade as a human being? What happens if artificial intelligence technology is used to mine personal information from smart phones? The researchers also discussed possible threats to human jobs, like self-driving cars, software-based personal assistants and service robots in the home.
Clearly, the public discussion about robots in society needs to continue.
But pursuing robotic design and artificial intelligence could be one real path for U.S. companies to pursue, as the country tries to leave The Great Recession behind and take advantage of all of the human capital that exists in the nation.
Like I’ve said before: Offering up this type of prescription is easier said than done. Investment dollars can remain elusive. The actual benefit could be a decade or so away.
But using human intelligence to succeed - and not merely in a financial way – is always a worthy goal.
UPDATE: I forgot to say that if humans ever make a Chinese dragon or lion (which has a long history) as robots – the kind you see during Lunar New Year – then I’ll think that’s a little strange.
