Attack of the killer robots

The Hollywood idea of a killer robot

A UN report is calling for a moratorium on the deployment of lethal autonomous robots (LAR) that have the ability to make life and death decisions without human involvement.

LAR makes for a dangerous equation:

Lethal = causing death + autonomous = independent of others + robot = machine.

That's the kind of technology that can decide in less time than you take to blink whether or not to detonate a bomb or unload a missile into a target that may well be an insurgent stronghold but could be a group of innocent civilians (or unfortunately a mix of both).  It's these confused situations that make people with an ounce of humanity feel uneasy.  A machine is being asked to determine if the target is hostile - yes, it may well be able to assess that danger but can it also determine if there are non-combatants that will also be caught in the devastating barrage?

Is this the future of lethal autonomous robots?

I can understand these calls for caution and yes, unless they can prove that this technology will only destroy a true military target, the ultimate decision on whether to engage should lie with human beings.  Sometimes that decision will sadly involve what is euphemistically called collateral damage but at least that decision has been made by hopefully sane human beings with the moral code to decide who lives and who dies.

However, if anyone thinks that the advanced tech used so effectively by allied forces against the enemies of democracy will magically be withdrawn from active use just because of these concerns, they are naive.  Yes, retain the ultimate decision in human hands by all means (like is done with the Reaper drones) but keep the potent advantage that billions of dollars of technology can bring to democratic nations in these troubled times.

The unmanned military drone is a reality of modern warfare

Moratorium sought on killer robots (Stuff)

Call for L.A.R. moratorium (PolicyMic)

Does the world want L.A.R. (TechTheFuture)

Opinion (Rolling Stone)

L.A.R. - An ethical stance (PDF)

The very scary Taranis (Stuff)

Smart skin

Smart skin will give robots tactile sensitivity

Sensitive robots

Working out of the Georgia Institute of Technology, a joint US-Chinese team has created a material that may bring considerable benefits to the field of robotics - an artificial skin that has sensitivity akin to that of human skin.

The secret lies in a network of transistors capable of generating independent 'piezotronic' signals.  Each of these tiny transistors have a bundle of some 1,500 nanowires and can detect a change of pressure accurate to around 10 kilopascals - that's similar to what human skin can detect.

Potential applications are many and varied. They will provide robots with an adaptive sense of touch, allowing intricate movements to be applied based on 'tactile sensing'.  As a security measure this technology could be used for multidimensional signature recording where not only the pattern of the signature is detected but also the specific pressure applied to the writing of each letter. DARPA, the US Defence Agency, is interested enough in this to be one of the major sponsors.

This is one of those technologies that on its own seems limited but when partnered with other fields,such as robotics, the possibilities are very exciting indeed.

Links to the 'smart skin' story

Tactile Imaging (GeorgiaTech)

Smart skin hope for touch sensor (BBC)

Smart skin has the same sensitivity as human skin (Wired)

Smart skin allows robots to feel (Escapist)

Piezo-electronic taxel arrays (RedOrbit)

Fancy reading the full article about this technology, published in Science magazine under the catchy title of 'Taxel-Addressable Matrix of Vertical-Nanowire Piezotronic Transistors for Active/Adaptive Tactile Imaging'? (Full  abstract requires subscription for access.)

Learning to walk again

       The ReWalk really does allow paraplegics to walk again         

I was totally blown away by watching the videos from Argo Medical Technologies for their amazing exoskeleton, the ReWalk.

This is advanced robotics for humans, transforming the user from a wheelchair-bound invalid into a bionic walker or even runner.

ReWalk has completed successful clinical trials in Israel and in Pennsylvania and has attracted considerable media interest and support from the community.


Sensors attached to the (non-paralysed) upper body detect the person's intention to move in a particular direction and translate this into motion controlled through the bionic joints in the legs.  Apparently it takes a bit of getting used to but once mastered the wearer can walk and run freely on the flat, up steps, over uneven terrain.

The ReWalk is now a commercial reality

Check out some of the videos at YouTube and be amazed.

ReWalk promotional website (included demonstration video)

Wheelchair bound no more (ABC)

ReWalk bionic walking assistance system (Wikipedia)

FAQ from Moss Rehab

Reef repair

Swarms of Coralbots are coming

Here's a worthwhile project for the planet.

Coralbots is a group of projects to build a team of aquatic robots to patrol the coral reef.  Reefs around the world have suffered substantial damage through storms and through totally avoidable human abuse - bomb testing, destructive fishing, coral removed for tourist souvenirs, you name it.

Currently they're trying to raise the necessary cash by crowd-funding the project on Kickstarter.

Swarms of Coralbots will hopefully be deployed to patrol the reef looking for areas that have been depleted.  The bots will transplant healthy clumps of coral where it's needed most.  The best thing about all of this is that the bots are programmed to recognise the damage and to sort it out without relying on a human being to issue instructions.  I have visions of these aquatic robot gardeners tirelessly cruising the reef picking up a piece here and replacing it there . . . wonderful.

Deployment of these marine gardeners brings great hope for the fragile economies of many island nations.  Without the benefit of a healthy reef these often poor communities suffer severe impacts on their livelihood with heavily depleted fish stocks and reduced opportunities for tourism.  Bringing back the reef could have major benefits for such communities.

Nessie-4 will repair coral reef off Belize   

This is an area of robotics that's particularly exciting.  These bots will be operating in environments that are difficult and dangerous for humans and they will have much better endurance.

They've already done a lot of field testing with these robots so they are pretty confident that they have the reliability of the technology sorted.

No doubt this is just one example of where advanced robotics and artificial intelligence will be deployed in the near future.  Good luck to them and bon voyage!

Coral-bot robot

Stories about the Coralbots 

Coralbots with swarm intelligence (TheVerge)

Repairing Scottish reef (BBC)

A step closer to reality for Coralbots (Inhabitat)

Coralbots Facebook presence

Hope for paraplegics

An interesting piece of robotics technology that brings real hope for paraplegics . . . .

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/13/tech/innovation/original-ideas-exoskeleton/index.html

Next10 and robotics

The Next 10 Years: Robotics

What is this technology?

Robotics is the diverse field of technology concerned with the design, development and constructions of robots.

Again, this technology is not new but what is happening in the robotics arena is nothing short of groundbreaking.

So where will it go next?

What will happen?

Arnie as the Terminator

We're not going to see the cyborgs of Hollywood heroes like the Universal Soldier or the Terminator in the next 10 years but we will see an explosion in the robotics arena, with ever increasing applications in the industrial, military, medical, and domestic sectors.

Robotics research is overcoming many of the barriers that have previously slowed progress.  Static robots employed in factories are already sophisticated but their cousins that need to move like a human or an animal over uneven terrain have struggled.  Projects like BigDog are showing that these challenges are being overcome and robots can move out into the wild (let's hope they don't turn feral).

Watson supercomputer at the heart of Blue Brain project

Teaching robots to think seems like a daunting challenge but projects such a Blue Brain (IBM's attempt to reverse engineer the human brain) will move robots from unthinking slaves to reasoning, problem solving, human-like entities.

The military applications are both exciting and frightening.  Rather than endanger their men and women, military powers will send in robots to do this work.  More sophisticated drones will develop to spy on and terminate threats without the need for human pilots or gunners.  Unlike today's drones that move at an almost sedentary pace, ultrasonic speed will send these agents of death to their targets in minutes, wherever they are in the world.

Robots will assist or even replace surgeons for performing the most intricate or surgery.  Metal scalpels will be consigned to the scrapheap as lasers make incisions and nanobots heal tissue and organs without the trauma of invasive surgery.

Robots will remove much of the grunt work from geriatric and invalid care and may even provide companionship for lonely souls.

How will this impact society?

Robots have long been employed in industry building cars, computer circuit boards and a multitude of precision instruments and our dependence on robots for engineering will continue to increase

Cylon centurion (Battlestar Galactica)

Robots will begin to enter the domestic sphere through labour saving devices in the home.

Medical equipment (MRI, CAT) will be rolled out in more hospitals and clinics and will become more affordable.  Use of these robotic wonders will become routine for early diagnosis of illness rather than detection of more developed problems.

Military operations will partner robotic machines to perform aerial and terrestrial insurgence to enemy positions to transmit detailed surveillance information.  Targeted attecks aginst the enemy by aerial drones and robotic successors to present-day tanks will reduce enemy defences to shreds.  Human forces will only be sent in to areas where enemy positions are already decimated.  The loss of life on the technologically equipped side will be minimal whereas the opposing side will be virtually eliminated.  With the odds of success heavily weighed against them only psychotic commanders would take the offensive against a technologically superior opposition.

Cylons will not have destroyed the earth or enslaved its inhabitants within the next 10 years !

What supports this prediction?

Reverse engineering the human brain

Riba the Robo-nurse

Nanorobotics

Robot wall climber

Hypersonic travel

Robonurse

I'm a big fan of technology that actually improves a person's quality of life.  I've seen how frustrating it is for infirm people and their caregivers when it comes to moving that person around.

So often it's the caregiver who risks personal injury by having to bend into uncomfortable or back straining positions just to help move a  less able person.   A frustration that's repeated every hour of every day the world over.

Hydraulic lifts are great but they are too expensive for most home use, they take up a great deal of room and they take a fair amount of instruction before they can be operated safely.

This robot (Riba) doesn't look like it's ready for the mainstream anytime soon, but it shows promise.  Demonstrating prototype technology such as this gives us a good idea of what can be achieved with more time and investment on what is a sound proposition.

With an aging population and a shortage of people who can provide the physical strength to lift or shift patients around, this kind of technology is very welcome indeed.

Robonurse (YouTube link)

Tech for weapons

This piece of tech gave me the shivers when I saw it.  The power to take a camera, an explosive device or a toxin up the side of building and deliver it to the enemy.  They just wouldn't see it coming.

It looks so life-like crawling up the wall - like a giant and very deadly insect.

I hope I'm on the right side if a technology like this is deployed !

Spooky.

Rise V2 / V3