Within the next 20 years, possibly sooner, household robots will have Internet-downloadable “personalities” that can be updated and swapped to perform a variety of physical and virtual tasks. Your "synthetic companion" will recognize your moods. You will relish your robot’s work capabilities and enjoy its company (real and virtual). Some of this may sound like pure science fiction, but the early components of the scenario are already under development.
This fall, high-tech consumer robotics firm WowWee will sell "Mr. Personality," a $250 three-wheeled toy robot that can crack jokes and tell stories while displaying animated and synchronized facial expressions on his LCD face. WowWee will offer additional “personalities” that can be integrated into the robot via a USB cord or by inserting an SD card into its head. [Ed. note: That works with my Uncle Fred, too.]
Personality transference
Mr. Personality's face doesn’t look human, but that’s possible to accomplish today, not just in science fiction. The U.K.’s University of Hertfordshire is developing KASPAR, a child-sized humanoid robot with facial expressions. KASPAR is one part of LIREC (Living with Robots and Interactive Companions), a $12.89 million European Union project established to advance the relationship between robots and humans.
One of LIREC’s projects will develop the capability of "transferring individual robot personalities across multiple platforms, from the household robot to the virtual robot residing on a desktop or online to the virtual robot on a portable device (PDA or cellular phone)," says Peter McOwan, professor of computer science at Queen Mary, University of London, who is directing LIREC.
Transferring some components of the physical robot’s personality, such as facial expressions and voice comments, could enable users to recognize their robot as a software representation on a computer, PDA, or phone. Household robots could perform such tasks as cleaning or bringing food, as well as downloading and displaying Internet data to plan trips, help children with homework, or balance checkbooks.
Emotional bonding
The development of emotional bonds -- or “user friendship,” as McOwan prefers -- between robots (physical and virtual) and humans is another aspect of LIREC. To encourage this friendship, software on the robots will store specific interactions with each person, who might believe the robot “remembers” him or her when they bring up past interactions.
One possible scenario might play out like this: The phone robot software winks, waves, and plays a snippet of your favorite tune -- just as the household robot does -- and says (in text, audio, or video), “Remember at home when you said 'we’re out of tea?' It’s 5:30 and you’ll be leaving work in half an hour. Do you want to stop by the store to buy more tea, or should I order it from the Internet?”
McOwan believes a useful “synthetic companion” -- for which people feel genuine affection -- could be produced within five years. He speculates that within the same time period, robots might be able to modify their shapes with inflatable “bladders” [ed. note: Uncle Fred again] to perform different tasks based on new Internet programming.
I believe robot programming in the future will also allow users to have sexual relationships with their synthetic companions (not a LIREC project!). We already have "cellular companions." Last year, chess master and artificial intelligence expert David Levy published Love and Sex with Robots. He writes that by about 2050, robots will become so advanced through emotional and conversational software combined with physical gestures, that it will be normal to consider them friends, co-workers, and even spouses. Levy predicts robots will be ordered with specific personalities which, I assume, could be updated via the Internet.
Although artificial intelligence has proven to be a very tough nut to crack, the future is clear: Physical and virtual robots will continue to evolve. Their new personalities and capabilities will be downloaded via the wired and wireless Internet.
I'd be surprised if we didn't see dramatically more advances in artificial intelligence than human intelligence. Indeed, perhaps the only way to improve human intelligence is through human-computer augmentation -- unless biological advances are able to improve our brain capabilities.
Thanks for the link. Depending on your perspective, this robot teacher is great, creepy or both!
There's no doubt that robots -- in a human form and a mechanical form -- will become increasingly more advanced through hardware and software.
Artificial intelligence is a tough nut to crack. But when you program a computer for a specific type of knowledge, it's much easier to produce a useful device, whether it's beating chess masters or, perhaps eventually, teaching classes.
I'm glad you enjoyed the articles. Vernor Vinge is one of my favorite science fiction writers, especially his earlier books dealing with the singularity. (I'm current reading his most recent novel, Rainbows End.)
I think I had previously read Vinge saying the same thing about computers being smarter than humans only briefly. That's the incredibly fascinating -- and scary -- aspect of singularity. When it begins, the exponential increase of intelligence (human-machine or just machine) progresses so fast that in a very short time it's so far above "ordinary" humans that they can neither understand or compete against it. That's the theory, at least.
I hope it occurs in the next month. I'd be standing in line to be fitted with my computer "jack." Well, maybe I'd wait just a bit to see the effects!
Thanks for the link. I went through a couple of them and found an interview and essay by Vernor Vinge about signs of singularity.
He mentioned that most people are comfortable around the idea if they thought it would come in one million years or ten thousand years. But that when they think of seeing that in their lifetime, they would feel uneasy - as with any very large change.
He also says that singularity will come as the combination of the following: AI, IA (intelligence amplification), Biomedicine (improving human by improving the neurological operations of our brains), Internet (Humanity, its networks, computers,
and databases become sufficiently effective to be
considered a superhuman being.) and Digital Gaia Scenario (The network of embedded
microprocessors becomes sufficiently effective to be
considered a superhuman being.)
And one last thing he mentions: "The best answer to the question, “Will computers
ever be as smart as humans?” is probably “Yes, but only briefly”"
The IEEE Spectrum has published a terrific special issue with specific Web features about the "Singularity," which is a search, in essence, for super-human intelligence typically involving the integration of humans with computers.
If you're at all interested in the development of human-computer intelligence, you'll want to read it. It includes articles and videos about some of the pioneers of this concept. A huge amount of material about robot/A.I. consciousness.
I don't know how long this will remain free online, so check it out now! Alas, I haven't yet undergone the requisite surgery and my computer isn't equipped with the latest human neuro interface for directly downloading it into my brain. So I'm stuck with turning my Tablet PC into slate mode, sitting in a chair or couch and reading it all. Primitive and time-consuming, but such is life.
You write that you're skeptical about how much cultural impact robots will have once they become more accessible and mainstream. Those two situations would result in an enormous affect. Even if relatively basic household robots are available for a relatively inexpensive price, think about how housework will change. Not many people would be upset by that. The simple robot typically won't look very human.
The more advanced robot, with a sophisticated personality, reasoning, learning, etc., will have a profound affect on society as we grapple with numerous issues. Here's just one very "simple" issue: What happens when robots begin filling jobs that humans used to do. This is already occurring, as we can see with, for example, manufacturing (automobiles, etc.).
Thanks for that very interesting comment, including the link to the article about Leonard Cohen. I love the term "serial surreality" that's discussed in the "Synchronicity" article. (I have thought that when we make contact with the first intelligent alien, the first human should have doctorates in astrophysics, biology, chemistry, etc. as well as experience as a journalist, novelist and poet.)
I know about software to change the sound of your voice but not about all those tracks using speech synthesis.
I like new age music and a fair amount of ambient/electronic recordings. I hadn't heard about Aphix Twin, but I just listened to some 30-second snippets on iTunes and might purchase the more lyrical pieces.
I'll also check out Irving Layton. Millennia ago, when I was an undergraduate, I wrote the equivalent of a book of poetry for a year-long honors creative writing class. I haven't read as much poetry as I should.
When you think about all the hardware and software we already have, we could construct quite an impressive robot.....albeit a joke compared to what we could do many years from now.
No, you don't have to look far to see representations of robots in literature and film, including robots on TV. I like "Total Recall 2070" because it isn't stupid (for the most part).
Voice and face recognition isn't easy, but with cameras and face/body recognition software, it's do-able today in some measure. Faces as well as voice patterns certainly can be matched, especially voice.
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