Robots and Artificial Intelligence

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Robots and Artificial Intelligence
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Some definitions

• Cyborg - cybernetic organism - part organic,
  part machinee.g. human cyborgs (humans augmented
  with technology OR machine cyborgs (machines
  incorporating organic components)
• Robot - an automated machine designed to carry
  out functions usually performed by humans
  (usually controlled by a computer program) -
  includes industrial robots as well as humanoid
  robots (androids)
• The word robot first used by Karel Capek in
  1920 in a play called R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal
  Robots). Capek derived the word 'robot' from the
  Czech word 'robota' meaning slave labour'

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Some definitions

• A.I. - artificial intelligence
• the branch of computer science that deals with
  writing computer programs that can solve problems
  creatively the aim of AI scientists is to
  imitate or duplicate intelligence in computers
  and robots source http//www.hyperdictionary
  .com
• intelligence exhibited by anything manufactured
  (i.e. artificial) by humans or other sentient
  beings or systems (should such things ever exist
  on Earth or elsewhere) sourcehttp//en.wikipedia
  .org/wiki/AI
• I.A. - intelligence augmentation/amplification
• using computer systems to aid human mental
  processes and thinking

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Conceptual Dilemmas in AI

• How do we judge if an AI is truly intelligent?
• 1997 - IBMs Big Blue defeats Kasparov
• Who really won, Big Blue or the programmers?
• What is intelligence?
• Is the Turing Test a true test of intelligence?
• (Annual Loebner prize)

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Conceptual Dilemmas in AI

• Strong AI - a system that is truly intelligent,
  i.e. exhibits self-awareness
  
• Weak AI - a system that simulates intelligence or
  intelligent behaviour
  
• Expert systems v. rounded human intelligence
• Embodied versus disembodied intelligence

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Conceptual Dilemmas in AI

• Embodiment and disembodiment
• Fantasy of disembodied consciousness
• How important is a body to intelligence and
  consciousness?
  
• Embodied intelligence has proved to be very
  difficult to program/create

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Development of mobile robots

• The development of mobile, autonomous robots has
  proved far more difficult than originally
  anticipated
  
• Building and programming robots to be able to
  interact in real-world environments is very
  difficult (hardware and software issues)
  
• common sense difficult to program - mobile
  robots require sophisticated multi-tasking and
  problem solving abilities
  
• Safety issues

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Artificial Intelligence Approaches

• top down, load data into a computer
• bottom up, let the computer learn like people do
• connectionismmodels via neural nets the
  massively parallel architecture of the brain with
  its huge numbers of connected components

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AI - top down approaches

• Cyc (pronounced "psych") developed by Douglas
  Lenat, CEO of Cycorp since 1984. Cyc is
  programmed with common sense rules and data about
  the world and an 'inference engine' that allows
  it to learn from what it already knows.
  (http//www.cyc.com)
• IBMs Big Blue chess playing AI
• ALICE chatterbot created in 1995 by Dr. Richard
  Wallace (http//www.alice.org)

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MITs COG - bottom up approach
Rodney Brooks has been devloping Cog since 1992.
Cog learns about the world the same way an infan
t does by interacting with it.
Cog can see and hear and has sensors on its
fingers allowing it to interact with the world.
Image source http//www.superstart.org/images/mi
t-news-cog-alone.jpg
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MITs Kismet
Kismet is a robot designed at MIT to act like a
human child and display emotional responses.
Image source http//www.ai.mit.edu/projects/socia
ble/media.html
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Robot predictions

• "By 2010 we will see mobile robots as big as
  people but with cognitive abilities similar in
  many respects to those of a lizard. The machines
  will be capable of carrying out simple chores,
  such as vacuuming, dusting, delivering packages
  and taking out the garbage. By 2040, I believe,
  we will finally achieve the original goal of
  robotics and a thematic mainstay of science
  fiction a freely moving machine with the
  intellectual capabilities of a human being.
• Hans Moravec (Carnegie Mellon University
  Robotics Institute)
  
• Source "Rise of the Robots", Scientific
  American, December 1999 pp.124-135 Available
  http//www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/hpm/project.archive/rob
  ot.papers/1999/SciAm.scan.html

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Companion Robots

• Companion robots are embodied, mobile AIs that
  are designed to carry out a variety of functions
  in a domestic environment
  
• Providing companionship
• Helping the elderly
• Performing simple domestic tasks
• Some examples ...

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Sonys AIBO
Image source http//www.mikrobitti.fi/nettijatkot
/2001/04/aibo/aibo.jpg
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RoboSciences RS-01 RoboDog
Image source http//www.roboscience.com
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NECs PaPeRo (Partner-type Personal Robot)
incorporates artificial intelligence technology
including behaviour control and conversation
skills has speech recognition and speech synthesi
s capabilities communicates using natural langua
ge and LEDs to generate facial expressions
Image source www.incx.nec.co.jp/robot
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Mitsubishis Wakamaru
Wakamaru is designed to interact with a human
family and become part of the family
Image source http//www.sdia.or.jp/mhikobe-e/prod
ucts/etc/robot.html
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Hondas ASIMO robots
ASIMO can navigate homes, offices and streets.
According to a company press release ASIMO can
"greet approaching people, follow them, move in
the direction they indicate, and even recognize
their faces and address them by name".
Prototype version only - not currently for sale.
Image source http//world.honda.com/ASIMO
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Fujitsus Maron-1
An Internet-enabled robot that can be operated by
mobile phone for remote household monitoring and
remote control of household appliances
Image sourcehttp//pr.fujitsu.com/en/news/2003/03
/13.html
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Software robots - softbots

• These are virtual robots simulated in cyberspace
  rather than physically embodied in the real world

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Jeeves
"Greetings. What can I help you find today?"
Jeeves is a virtual butler (an intelligent agent)
on the Ask Jeeves search engine.
Jeeves responds to natural language questions
rather than the usual Boolean search commands
used by other search engines. http//www.ask.com
Image source http//www.ask.com
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The Sims
http//www.armchairempire.com/images/previews/ps2/
the-sims/the-sims-5.jpg
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Tamagotchi - virtual pets
Image source www.bandai.co.jp/.../e_corporate/
ecorp705.html
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Kurzweils Ramona chatbot
Raymond Kurzweil's chatterbot Ramona acts as the
avatar hostess of his website www.kurzweilAI.net
and is also a virtual performer and singer.

http//www.kurzweilAI.net - click on Ramona
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Robots and AIs in Sci-Fi
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Capek - R.U.R.(Rossums Universal Robots)
Image from a performance of R.U.R. in the 1930s
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Maria - the robot from Fritz Langs Metropolis
(1936)
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Robby the Robot Forbidden Planet (1956)
Image Source http//www.100megsfree3.com/glaw/rob
by/robby9.jpg
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Data (Star Trek The Next Generation)
http//www.final-space.de/Die20Crew20der20Enter
prise.htm
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The Borg(Star Trek The Next Generation)
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Pris in Bladerunner (19820
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Bicentennial Man (1999)
Image source http//www.norcalmovies.com/Bicenten
nialMan/bicentennial04.jpg
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Agent Smith in The Matrix (1999)
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Stanley Kubricks A.I. (2001)
David, a surrogate child, and Gigolo Joe a sex
robot
Image source http//www.imdb.com
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Recurring Issues in Sci-Fi

• The human identity crisis - what does it mean to
  be human?
  
• What separates humans from intelligent machines?
  
  
• What is special or unique about humans?

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Recurring Issues in Sci-Fi

• Will AIs will supercede and dominate humans?
• If AI intelligence equals or exceeds our own,
  will they compete for resources with us will
  they try to subjugate or destroy humans,
  rendering the human race obsolete?
• Will AIs abide by Asimovs Three Laws of Robotics?

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Asimovs 3 laws of robotics

• A robot may not harm a human being, or, through
  inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
  
• A robot must obey the orders given to it by the
  human beings, except where such orders would
  conflict with the First Law.
  
• A robot must protect its own existence, as long
  as such protection does not conflict the First or
  Second Law.

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Ethical dilemmas in AI

• Will intelligent machines develop self-awareness
  or consciousness?
  
• i.e.will they develop the subjective capacity to
  experience the world, and the sense of
  personhood, that characterises humans?
  
• Will they develop emotion?
• NB In Blade Runner, they use an emotion test
  rather than an intelligence test to detect
  replicants (robots)
  

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Ethical dilemmas in AI

• If AI technologies develop consciousness and
  emotions, should they have rights, in the sense
  that humans have rights?
  
• Are we creating a slave race?
• Do we have an ethical responsibility to new
  lifeforms and AIs? (Mary Shelleys Frankenstein
  story explored this issue)
  
• Should there be a bill of rights for AIs?
• Will we be able to turn them off or will this be
  tantamount to murder?
  

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References

• In ARIN 1000 Reader
• Lubar, S. (1993)Information Beyond Computers,
  in Infoculture, New York Houghton Mifflin.
  
• Online
• Cleland, K. (2003) "Domestic Robots", in, MESH
  16 The House of Tomorrow, Melbourne Experimenta
  -Available www.experimenta.org/mesh.html
  
• Wikipedia - http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI
• Hyperdictionary - http//www.hyperdictionary.com
• KurzweilAI.net - http//www.kurzweilai.net
• Honda - ASIMO - http//world.honda.com/ASIMO
• Fujitsu - MARON-1 - http//pr.fujitsu.com/en/news/
  2003/03/13.html
  
• MIT robotics - http//www.ai.mit.edu/projects/soci
  able/media.html
  
• NEC - PaPeRo - http//www.incx.nec.co.jp/robot
• Cyc - http//www.cyc.com
• Sony AIBO - http//www.ai.mit.edu/projects/sociabl
  e/media.html

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References

• Additional Readings in Fi sher Reserve
• Boden, M. (1990) (ed), Introduction, The
  Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence, Oxford
  Oxford University Press.
  
• Ford, K. M. and Hayes, P. J. (1998) On
  Computational Wings Rethinking the Goals of
  Artificial Intelligence, Scientific American
  Presents Exploring Intelligence, Vol. 9, No. 4,
  Winter 1998.
• Garfinkel, S. (1997) Happy Birthday HAL, in
  Wired, January 1997.
  
• Tofts, D. et al (eds.) (2002) Prefiguring
  Cyberculture an intellectual history, Sydney
  Power Publications Cambridge, Mass. MIT.