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THE HUMANOID EXPLOSION
Since the 1990s a number of academic and private corporate
institutions have begun making robots that one might conventionally see in
science fiction, that is robots with a humanoid or human
like form. In Japan,
Honda was probably the first company to build a humanoid robot ASIMO.
Though one criticism of ASIMO amongst researchers of robotics is that ASIMO
has no autonomous capabilities and is therefore little more than an extremely
expensive puppet.
Despite the obvious complexities and issues in making a humanoid
robot, the work in Japan
has led the way in addressing the engineering difficulties of replicating
agile human movement in a machine. There is also some debate over how
human-like the robots should or should not look. Masahiro Mori’s theory of
the uncanny valley is widespread in robotic circles – whether researchers
subscribe to it or not. In summary, Mori argued that creatures that behave
human-like, but do not look human-like, create anxiety in us. Alternatively,
creatures that look very human-like but do not behave as such also create
anxiety in human observers. Mori recommended that researchers design their
robots in ways to avoid this, and one way is to keep their metallic
properties of the machine explicit, and so to avoid these cognitive-emotional
confusions amongst human observers. Roboticist
David Hanson does not believe that robots that look human-like provoke fear
and his robots are designed in human-like ways, with skin-like substances
covering the surfaces of the robots. The way robots look and behave is
important in the making of humanoid robots.
The work of Rodney Brooks and his graduate students at the
former Artificial intelligence Lab (now the Computer Science and Artificial
Intelligence Laboratory) at MIT has been important in the development of
robotics. Two of these former projects Cog and Kismet pioneered new approaches to human-like
robots, such as human-machine sociable interaction and embodied cognition.
Kismet was designed with human-like expressive features and used these
emotional expressions when interacting with interlocutors in the labs at MIT.
Cog explored how the humanoid body can assist in performing intelligent
actions. Kismet is now at the MIT museum of science and Cog departed to a
museum at the end of December 2003, but the ideas generated through these
projects continue to be explored in new areas, such as Babybot in Italy, Yale
University, USA and at the Media Lab at MIT guided under the
supervision of Dr Cynthia Breazeal’s Leonardo project. New projects continue in the Humanoid
Robotics Lab and other labs at MIT. Mertz is a robot designed by Lijin
Aryananda and it explores issues of sociability and memory. Aryananda is
trying to give Mertz emotion to help it develop a memory system,
that it will develop through its interactions with interlocutors
around MIT.
Japan is perhaps the single
country with the most humanoid research. In Japan for example, the Humanoid
Robotics Institute are engaged in making different kinds of robots
that can walk, talk, act, behave and interact with human beings. These
researchers are making numerous types of robots and directing huge resources
into the making of bi-pedal robots. Humanoid roboticists
in Japan
argue that robots are necessary to assist their country and the social and
labour problems that will be brought about by an ageing population.
Waseda University
in Japan
has a project exploring human-machine environments and they have built WABOT-House.
WABOT-House is the first ‘robot’ house. Japan is unique and has many
innovative projects. Japan
also has the most number of industrial robots, per human of any advanced
Capitalist nation in the world. The ongoing mechanisation of Japanese
society, in all areas of life is one to watch with interest. Waseda University is amongst many institutions that plans to build humanoid robots, others include Tokyo University and Kawada Industries Inc isamu. Many more companies and universities are now
engaged in making these kinds of robots.
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ROBOTS IN THE MAKING
Though the
making of robots might take place in computer science and engineering
institutions, humanoid robotics is a field that is inseparable from the
artistic backdrop and the science and technology is continually supported by
the cultural context.
In Japan
this is demonstrated by the importance of Astroboy. Astroboy
is a popular Japanese figure who was created in the 1940s by Osamu Tezuka. This image resonates with Japanese culture and is
a popular ironical image found in daily life. Astroboy
is also featured as the figure in the annual Robodex a gathering
of roboticists from all around the world.
Japanese roboticists are engaged in
making many human-like and humanoid projects. Waseda
researchers are credited with building the first humanoid robot in 1973 –
though there is much evidence that maverick technologists did this also.
However, Waseda was perhaps the first research
institution to formally embark on such an unorthodox project as building a
humanoid robot. The absence of robots has less to do with the lack of want or
interest in these creatures – but more to do with the fact that creating
human-like machines is extremely difficult. The obvious technical and
philosophical constraints of building human-like machines not withstanding,
though now there appears more will to tackle such complexities by research
groups in Asia, Europe and North America.
THE POST-HUMAN AGE
“Before the next century is over, human beings will
no longer be the most intelligent or capable type of entity on the planet.
Actually, let me take that back. The truth of the last sentence depends on
how we define human. And here we see one profound difference between these
two centuries: The primary political and philosophical issue of the next
century will be the definition of who we are”.
Ray
Kurzweil
The
Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Will Exceed Human Intelligence
Many contemporary thinkers today believe we are living in a
post-human age due to the relationships and dependencies that have developed between
humanity and machines.
Contemporary roboticists, such as Rodney Brooks (head of CSAIL)
believe that humans are just machines, and only have special qualities to the
extent that they are special kinds of machines Flesh and Machines. Today, the idea of human uniqueness is being
challenged by a number of roboticists, artificial intelligence scientists and
social theorists. Scientists Hans Moravec and Ray Kurzweil both argue that human intelligence will be
surpassed by machines. Anthropologist, Donna Haraway argues that humans are Cyborgs -part-human and part-machine.
Thinkers affiliated to the Actor Network School of Thought believe that
the human-non-human divide is problematic and challenge the notion that
humans are the determining agents in human affairs. The work of humanist Frank
Furedi is unique today, as he is interested in
addressing the themes of dehumanization in contemporary culture. His latest
book, The Politics of Fear: Beyond Left and Right addresses
many of these issues. In addition to Furedi, the
work of Kenan Malik,
James Heartfield and Francis Fukuyama explore
similar themes of humanism and post-humanism. See a review at the New York
Times here of Fukuyama’s
Our Posthuman Future.
The question of what is and what is not human is according to many thinkers,
one of the most crucial questions of our age.
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