The modern automatons, be they soft, hard, and non-murderous, come in all shapes and sizes. Sharing the universe with these comical machines sometimes require a restrictive attraction to humor for laughing at them stumbling is not the same case as with toddlers. A toddler might join in the humor train, but since there is no robotic software to process and understand humor, we might ignorantly sanction a World War III protocol. However, the robotic baristas might overheat your coffee and burn your tongue in retaliation; they might be funny that way. You can have a glimpse of such robotic coffee makers by link. On the other hand, this article tries to write an autobiography on the life of robots.
On an honest note, the creation and takeover of robots are what we can describe as a soup of awe, admiration, and fear. We want a soup that is easier and safer to prepare, yet we fail to trust the soup-making process due to unwarranted fear. The robots are the crafts of our humane image, so why is the creator afraid of the creation, yet control is editable?
However, such obstacles, such as fear is the reason why the dominance of robots continues to be undisputed. They are now smarter and much more physically fit to carry out their objectified tasks without being on a human’s short leash. Their arrival gives them the freedom to roam around in and out of their work environment.
Worrying about a robot stealing your job should be in the same category as the crime of treason. It is capitalism, and if the creation can cope then, the creator should be five moves ahead. The inevitability of automation will not hit a barricade due to complaining tones. The only ideal solution is being adaptable to work alongside these robots as the future does not have a spare part. Moreover, on a scale of 1-to-10, the number 10 says you are more likely to be best friends with a robot than being its serial killer victim.
Robots and their History
The definition of a robot seems misplaced from the onset of industrialization. Its first pronunciation came to light in the 1921 calendar from the now Czech republic to mean forced labor. The representation of such robots was more spiritual than physical. They had a human-like appearance, but their physical layout was fully metallic. Their creation was through the chemical batter. History describes these robots as super-efficient in comparison to their human counterparts. However, murder-y was their undeniable trait and soon embarked on a killing spree.
The comic tale through R.U.R (Rossum’s Universal Robots) then established the Not-To-Be-Trusted machine category that hosts the likes of Blade Runner, The Stepford Wives, and The Terminator. Thus their tales live to this day through modern film production companies.
In the real-world, a robotic definition lies along the lines of an intelligent machine with a physical embodiment. Use your imaginary nature to bring to life a simple drone and pilot it around in your head. Would you call it a robot? No. Thus giving it the free will to pilot and land itself out of the reach of your controlling imagination. Alas, you have a robot-ish behavior. Therefore, combining intelligence, sensing, and autonomy is the secret recipe for cooking up a robot in your secret laboratory.
The 1960s then witnessed the birth of Shakey in Silicon Valley through SRI International. This Tower-on-Wheels robot deserved every bit of its name. It was twitchy, slow, and awkward like some of us on a forced social gathering. It was able to navigate through a complex environment due to the power of its inbuilt camera and bump sensors. It lacked the machine confidence, but that is where we all start and then came to light the first robotic revolution.
The manufacturing industry then started to embrace the use of robotic arms with Unimate being the first of its kind. Its descendants currently rule the car factories sector. They employ their precision and speed into dangerous and tedious tasks. Their ability to sense and manipulate a work environment entitles them to the robotic definition.
The period saw a good number of robots remain confined in labs and factories. Their fate was to participate in object-lifting tasks or end up being rolled-out continuously. The mid-1980s then saw the Honda company launch a humanoid robotics program. It was pretty good in waving and shaking hands. The work of art then led to Asimo, a robotic football assassin that almost took out President Obama with an energized soccer ball. Maybe its an exaggeration, but Asimo’s robotic lawyer should have been present to translate the robotic humor that just went live into a manageable human tone.
Back to the present, AI, Actuators, and Sensors technologies are amplifying robotic advancement. The sensors are what is keeping the robots from adopting or inheriting the awkward bumpy nature of humans. That is the reason it is easy for a robotic mule to have its eyes locked on a human at all times. The actuator is a sugar coat of a gearbox and an electric motor fused together. It is what keeps the robotic joint in place. It determines its strength and operational smoothness. Their absence would leave a creation that resembles a rag doll. Even the Roombas and self-driving cars do not want to upset their existence. Thus a robotic muscle strength depends on the number of actuators in place.
The AI component is now adding sprinkles of smartness to the physically robust robots. Brains with muscles seem like the it-thing for robots. The inseparable senses and intelligence in robots make them one move smarter than humans. Thus in a contest of trying to avoid digesting fake apples, the robots will have the upper hand. Robotic fingerprints are also a thing now, and they too can be able to feel coarseness and temperature changes thanks to a project by Syntouch.
As the sensors become more affordable, the AI-superpowered processors are also getting in line. GPUs and VR advances make it possible for the mobile robots to carry out onboard complex computations without the help of the Cloud. They are thus functional both online and offline.
The Future of Robots
The increase in the population of these sophisticated machines come with their use as they are self-sufficient and thus less of a burden. The AI advancements gift these robots with the ability of self-learning. The learning process can be super slow, but with time, the student will be able to outwit the master and not in a scary apocalypse manner. The robots will have no issue getting along with humans, but it is the humans that might require the training to cope up with the complex nature of these robots. While some still view robots as a threat, why not befriend them and know more about their thinking? After all, we have the upper hand as their creators and should not sit back and let them get the best of us if it ever comes to that, which undoubtedly will not.
So humanity was playing around in the laboratory and boom, a new species called robots came to life. It has no flaws like fear and worries, but precision, efficiency, and timing. We might fear them, but they are the fear we need to force us to step up to a new phase of evolution in line with the industrial revolution. They are our ticket to exploring and documenting a world in a universe jar; we know nothing about yet brag of its dominance.
