October 5, 2005 1:59 PM PDT
FAQ: Keeping pace with robots
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Every week seems to bring a new report of a robot taking up a human task: cleaning floors, riding camels, babysitting the kids, firing machine guns. There are contests in which robots play soccer or wreak mayhem on one another. Aibo and Roomba are becoming household names. Business plans related to robots are the order of the day.
Robots in action
Still, it all seems so very far from the promise long held out--that, for better or worse, more than just doing chores, robots would be our companions, even our doppelgangers. Is it just a matter of time, or are the technical questions really that daunting?
Two events over the next few days could shed some light on the seemingly inevitable advance of robotics technology. In San Jose, Calif., starting Thursday, the robo-cognoscenti will gather at the RoboNexus conference. And in a dusty corner of Nevada, robotic vehicles will gather for the DARPA Grand Challenge to see whose wheels are the real deal.
To help set the record straight on where we stand now, here's a rundown of what robots are up to these days.
What exactly is a robot?
It does seem as though every other machine that's one step above a toaster oven gets the "robot" label. Often it's a marketing ploy, pure and simple--in earlier days, people tried to cash in the same way with "radio" and "aero."
At bottom, today's robots are simply machines, typically with some amount of silicon smarts that help them perform certain specific tasks, whether it's playing chess or playing watchdog.
Another way to look at a robot is as a conglomeration of separate computer systems. In the DARPA Grand Challenge vehicles, the self-driving cars have computer vision systems (sensors send out signals and "look" for obstacles), navigation systems (based on GPS and supplementary systems), accelerometers and braking systems, and high-powered servers that tie all the components together and let them interact or correct one another.
What's the difference between a robot and an android?
An android is essentially a mobile robot with a human form. That's the way most people tend to think of robots, as somehow resembling humans--whether it's the lifelike replicants of "Blade Runner" or the arm-waving, bubbleheaded tin can from "Lost in Space." Movies and TV shows play a big role in shaping that image.
Robot makers are building bots that have a more or less human outline--arms, legs, torso, head--but they're little more than stick figures compared with flesh-and-blood forms.
It's much more common that form follows function. Just think of the industrial robots that put doors and windshields on new cars at the factory; they're more or less just an arm, and a very bony and angular one at that. Or consider the heavily promoted Roomba, a disk on wheels that vacuums household dirt.
Can a computer be considered a robot? It has silicon-based intelligence of a sort, and performs specific tasks.
Anne Foerst, a "robotics theologian" who has worked at MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, draws this distinction: Computers require people to enter their world, to know their languages and, essentially, to appease them. Robots, on the other hand, have to live in a human environment and to understand the way people do things.
Some people see the distinction differently. In an observation quoted in a recent New York Times article, Andy Rubin, a co-founder of Danger, the company behind the Sidekick handheld, said: "Computers are starting to sprout legs and move around in the environment." Rubin is also a financial backer of the Stanford team in this year's DARPA race, according to the Times.
In general, robot intelligence is primarily based around probability. A robot looking for a door will bump into a wall at regular intervals until it hits the door. Next time, it takes a more direct route. Though probability was considered an inferior form of artificial intelligence in the past, it's the primary engine in the field now. Human cognitive researchers have found it plays a pretty big role in us, too.
What have they done for us lately?
Lots, actually. Robotic gear helps build cars and many other products, and--depending on how you define "robot"--autopilot systems fly airplanes. Robots sniff out bombs in places like Iraq. Hospitals are experimenting with robotic surgery. Robo-jockeys are helping put an end to the use of child riders in big-business camel races. On the home front, robots are finding jobs in day care centers.
At the very least, there's some entertainment value in a dancing Aibo. For those who like a little more action, the Robocoaster from Germany's Kuka Roboter is hitting the amusement park circuit.
Who's leading the charge to get robots into real-world settings?
Among commercial ventures, iRobot stands out. Its Roomba has become a household name--it's even been lampooned on "Saturday Night Live"--and the company also has been working the military angle
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