ItR Robot Smog chapter from Robot Futures Reading Response
The author’s opinion:
In the future context, robots will bring problems to our humans. In the fiction story, the sensors and technical architecture of the robot can be modified and re-engineered by someone easier than before. In this case, the robot may be used for illegal usage which is not the original use of the designer. In addition, robots with lots of sensors will hugely influence people’s privacy. These words are to say that robots are always neutral. The standpoint highly depends on the user of the robot. With the development of technology, “this public democracy of built machines will be omnipresent and massively diverse”(25). Robots in the future not only have more functions and abilities but also will become more accessible to common people.
The author divides the future robot primer into 6 dimensions.
Structure:
The development of 3D printing and laser cutting technology made “a small revolution in low-cost, rapid prototyping” (28) which make everyone the ability to build their own shape robots. This makes DOF robotics and flying robots become common in our daily life. Robots can do more things, and complete more complex missions under the new structure.
Hardware:
According to the author, “hardware is the most difficult to predict category of robot technology development” (31). The chips, motors, and batteries are the key part of a robot. These fields are all trying to make innovation. When revolutionary breakthroughs happen in these fields, the robots will be enabled by them and gain the capability transition.
Electronics:
In the very beginning, the robots highly depend on the hardware outside their robots’ bodies. Along with the development of technology and electronics, robots started to integrate all the sensors and hardware into its body. The “Low-cost, accurate accelerometers and gyroscopes” (36) give the robots more sense and information input which can let robots cooperate with the environment and achieve more functions and listen to advanced orders. The electronic industry makes robots today smarter and more advance.
Software:
The software is not like the computer that the code can be utilized by most individuals. The robots have different hardware and protocols which is hard to make contributions together. Afterward, people were trying to develop “standardizing robotics” (38). The invention of OpenCV makes the whole robotics environment got much better. People use this library to develop different kinds of robots and devices. The iteration of the software is faster and faster nowadays, “we never face the limitations in calculation that were present even one year ago” (41).
Connectivity:
The connectivity of robots gives it the “foundation of power and knowledge” (42). The robots need the internet to “see the world and understand that perceptual signal as well as possible” (42). After they are able to reach the online data, they can integrate the data and form a complete shape of the user. They will know more about us far more than we thought.
Control:
In the past, robots can only be controlled by people or make decisions by themselves. However, state-of-the-art technology is developing towards a mixture of these two modes. When everything goes without any problems, the robots will make decisions and take action by themselves. Once the situation is more complex than a certain level, the robots will ask humans for help.
The future of robotics is uncertain, it can benefit our lives in some specific fields, but it also can let our life get worse by taking us some moral issues.
My words:
According to my understanding of this chapter. The author gives us some insights into future robots and the robotics subject. Along with the development of technology, we are quite sure that the robot will become more accessible to the general public. For instance, sweeping robots, cooking robots, voice assistants, etc. They have already gotten into our daily lives for a long period. However, technology is always a double-edged sword. Its usage of it highly depends on the one who designs and builds it. Hope in the future, the related law will become more comprehensive and effective in order to prevent people from doing illegal things assisted by robots. The prospect of robots is bright, I think. With more and smarter, cheaper, and more useful robots being invented, our lives will become easier and simpler.