Explorer Bot

Walk like a zombie day

Laws of Robots

Isaac Asimov is largely responsible for the popular mythos of robots in society. I, Robot (the book, not the movie) was published in 1950.  Yes, it’s older than your parents.  And worth the read if you seek the classics.  (Yes, like most youth today.)

Among other things that Asimov introduced were the three Laws of Robotics, which can be stated like this:

A robot may not injure a human being or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm;

A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law; and

A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Now, these are artifical rules, dreamed up by one of the first scientists (yes, Asmiov was a scientist first, before a novelist) to think about robots and the future.  But now, scientists are actually trying to figure out how to program robots to follow these laws.  From Science Daily – Real-life Robots Obey Asimov’s Laws:

Issac Asimov, widely regarded as the spiritual father of science fiction, outlined three rules that all robots in his future worlds must obey. The most important two were: a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm; and a robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

However, robotics in the real world has trouble striking a workable balance between these two requirements. Robots can perform tasks efficiently in controlled environments away from humans, or they can interact with humans if properly equipped with sensors to avoid any harm. But that degree of ‘sensing’ also creates complexity and a lack of robustness to hardware and software failures which, in turn, affects safety. Of course, robots could be safe if they move slowly enough, or work far away enough from humans – but then, their dexterity and effectiveness are dramatically reduced.

Serafina

Serafina is one of a class of ropbots known as AUVs – Autonomous Underwater Vehicles.

The autonomous part means that it can navigate and make decisions on its own, without human intervention.  These little guys are learning how to work together – and stay together – so that they can survey large amounts of ocean efficiently.

From the Robots Podcast Website:

Navigating and communicating with neighbors underwater is a difficult task (unless you’re a fish), since there is no GPS, radio communication is very limited, and vision is essentially useless. Kottege explains the challenges they had to overcome to build swarms of Serafina robots, and some of the possible applications of their swarm once they’re roaming our oceans.

Also, don’t miss a past interview on Talking Robots with Uwe Zimmer who is at the head of the Serafina project.

Yes, there is a trobots podcast.  It’s kind of cool.

Um… a robot on a unicycle?!?!11?1!

Look, I can’t even ride a unicycle.  But this robot can. From Japan, of course.  (Clicking on the image brings you to the London Telegraph article and video.)

The 50cm tall “Murata Girl” robot has been modelled on a young child, and can go forwards and backwards on just one wheel. It even displays a number of human qualities.The robot blushes when cycling, and an electronic eye made of ultrasonic sensors tells the five kilogram creation when it is about to bump into something. The robot’s brain then enables it to change direction. “Murata Girl” can remain upright when stationary, using two gyro sensors to remain balanced. Much like a human unicyclist, the robot makes small movements forwards and backwards to remain on one spot.